Lily was here
by LavenderDreams
Summary: "See, I think that our Prongs might be in love," Remus said slowly. Sirius looked at him almost pityingly, clearly expecting him to say 'April fool' or something like that. When nothing of sort came, he burst out laughing."No way...
1. When potion teaches you a lesson

Disclaimer: I am not JK... Still waiting for someone to discover me :D

_**AN: ** Okay guys, this is my first fan-fiction ever, therefore reviews on what to do better would be much appreciated. PLEASE give it a try and tell me what to make better. I know there are hundreds of Lily/James stories an some of them are far better than this will ever be but I'll try not to bore you to death and throw in some action from time to time so as to make the lovely-dovely romance more interesting. Also you will probably notice that English is not my first language. If you notice something that doesn't make sense at all, you are free to point it out. I'll be only happy to correct it._

_Kate xx_

_Update:_

_I said I won't give up on this story but at times I thought I would. See, in two years that passed by since I started this, a lot of things changed and this story didn't seem to go the way I thought it should, based on personal experience. I wanted my characters be realistic, but they didn't seem so. They seem immature at the very least, if not downright unrealistic. But then I thought I will make it a challenge to myself to take them from carefree teenagers to mature adults as the life will lead them through some important experiences. We will see if I succeed._

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-Chapter one-

**When potion teaches you a lesson**

"Lily, Lily! WAKE UP!"

No answer.

"Lily, you really need to wake up!"

"...too early..."

"No, it's not! If you don't wake up in five minutes you are going to miss the breakfast and be late for classes."

At these words the redheaded girl sat up, suddenly completely awake. She wiped her eyes to look at the clock and groaned – they still had about an hour till the lessons started!

"Alice! You tricked me!" she said throwing a nasty look at the other girl and plopping back down onto her bed. "I hate you." Best friend or not, Alice Ford was a morning person. Bloody annoying morning person who knew exactly how to get her out of bed. Be damned best friends who knew you through and through.

"Oh, come on, Lils! You complain now, but you would have hexed me into oblivion if I didn't wake you up soon enough and let you be late."

"Yeah, well..." muttered Lily. It was true, she was the hard working, always perfect Lily Evans. She was prefect, an exemplary student who couldn't afford being late. And she also was the complete opposite of morning person.

After quick shower the girls, joined by Mary MacDonald, shy girl who was also woken by Alice, headed to Great Hall for the first breakfast of the semester. Their other two roommates, Penelope Wright and Anita Popping were, it seemed, still asleep. How they managed to sleep through the noise Alice made Lily couldn't fathom, but she couldn't honestly say she missed their presence. She got along with them, true, but their ever-present whispers and giggling sometimes drove her crazy.

When they reached the Hall, Professor McGonagall was already giving out new schedules.

"Miss Evans! Miss Ford! Miss MacDonald!" called professor, "I'm glad to see you are already hear. If only other students would follow your example...," she tailed of as she looked over the almost empty Griffindor table. Girls exchanged amused looks. Be blessed best friends who knew what's best for you. "Never mind, here are your new schedules."

Lily looked at hers, as professor rushed off to the group of third years that just entered the Hall. As she wanted to keep her options open she took almost every class she could. However she dropped divination – seriously, a bunch of tealeaves can't determine your future, Muggle studies – as muggleborn she new enough to teach the subject, although it was interesting and sometimes funny to see how her classmates dealed with muggle devices - and quite unwillingly also Care of Magical creatures. Still, with all the other subjects and prefect duties there was hardly any free time left.

Alice, on the other hand, squealed excitedly as she checked out her schedule.

"EEEE! Free period this morning!"

"What?!" asked Lily checking Alice's schedule.

Sure enough, while Lily had double Potions, Alice and Mary had free period and then Muggle studies. Alice had dropped Potions first chance she got. It was a good thing though. Considering her abysmal potion making abilities, complicated potions they were about to brew this year and her extraordinary attraction for accidents, she probably saved the school from some massive explosions. Still Lily couldn't help feeling a bit bitter about this. What would she do for a warm cozy bed now... But no, she had a lesson to attend. Without her best friends and – she glanced at her schedule once more – with slytherins too! There were so few sixth years that wanted to continue with Slughorn's lessons, that all houses had them together.

"Life is just not fair!" she groaned.

"Cheer up Lily, old Sluggy loves you."

Contemplating whether that was a good thing or not, Lily merely nodded. Keen to change the subject to more cheerful topic she asked Alice what does she think about a new Head Boy. She knew Alice had a crush on Frank, but she was simply too proud to admitted it. Alice thought it would put her down to the level of silly girls who had nothing better to do that salivate over the cute guys and giggle irritably in the back of classes and they had sworn in their fourth year that they will never-ever fall so low. Nevertheless, Lily continued teasing her poor best friend about the boy until it was time to part.

Lily sighed as she made her way to Potions. Yes, she was rather good at the subject, natural, as Slughorn called her, but a double period with slytherins wasn't exactly something to lift your mood.

Some people were already there including Severus Snape, her former friend, with Carrow twins and Mulciber, whom Lily deeply despised. She was angry and saddened by the fact, that Severus would choose such an evil friends over her. Averting her eyes from the group she scanned the rest of the room. Three Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff girl were sitting in the back of the class which left her only free table right in front of professors desk. She wandered if she was the only one from Griffindor to take the potions this year. Just then the bell rang and three other panting figures entered. She rolled her eyes. Of course fortune just loved her today, she thought to herself sarcasticaly.

The Marauders, though one member shorter since Peter failed his OWL exam, approached Lily's table.

"Evans! Fortune must love me today!" said the boy with disheveled jet black hair and wide grin on his face, as if he read her mind.

"Shame, I can't say the same" growled Lily in response.

"Aw, Evans, that's really not a way to speak to your boyfriend and potion partner."

"You are NOT my boyfriend!" she hissed.

"Yet," winked James as he moved towards her. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm working with Remus, you may stay on the other side of the table." She quickly grabbed the only marauder she could withstand by his elbow and dragged him to her side before Potter could reach her. Remus was a nice boy with magnificent blue eyes. He wasn't arrogant like his friends and he was a prefect too. His potion skills were similar to ones of Alice, but at least he paid attention to what he was doing.

"Er, Lily, I don't know if this is the best idea," he said.

"I'm not working with those stupid morons. "

"Oi, we can hear you Evans" said Black, Potters best friend. He would be handsome, had he not an awful arrogant smirk plastered across his face almost permanently.

"So? It's not like it wasn't true."

"It hurt our feelings."

"You would have to have ones first," snorted Lily.

Potter look as though he was about to say something, but-

"All right class, calm down," interrupted them professor. "All of you have manged to pass a required OWL level to study more advanced, more interesting and therefore more dangerous potions. Some off you have natural talent for the subject", he smile fondly at Lily and she forced a polite smile on her face in return, "others will have to work harder than ever," he turned his gaze on Remus, who shifted uncomfortably. "Nevertheless, you passed and I want you to show me the best that's in you. Today I want each pair to brew one potion they think will impress me. You have 80 minutes, you may start now."

Rustling of a pages filled the room, when everybody looked through they books for some interesting potion. Lily was desperate, most of the potions in her book took weeks to brew or had really rare ingredients. Then, at last, she found it. Just what she needed. She showed the book to Remus.

"Euphoria" she whispered, not wanting someone to overhear her, and she rushed off to get ingredients. Remus looked delighted. Lily and Severus were the best potion-makers he knew. This should be easy.

He glanced over the table at his two best friends, who seemed to be arguing about something.

"Geez, Prongs, that won't work."

"That's not your problem, Padfoot."

"As a matter of fact, it is. I'm supposed to be your parter, remember?"

"What are you two doing?" he interrupted them.

"Nothing."

"Our _Prongsie_ thinks, we will brew Amortentia today, so he can slip some to Evans later."

"James-"

"No, listen! I'm not going to slip it to Evans, I wouldn't stoop so low. I just want to show her that we are not evil like those gits over there," he nodded towards Slytherins, "that we have feeling too, as opposed to what she thinks."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, by brewing love potion..." he muttered.

"Shut it. I'm going to get the ingredients."

Remus laughed. But he was a bit disturbed by the determination in James' voice. This wasn't just normal crush on a girl. If James would risk making fool of himself in front of Slytherins by brewing love potion, there had to be something else behind it. Still, poor Sirius, his reputation will be damaged forever after today's lesson. He shook his head and set to work in silence as Lily returned with ingredients.

They had only ten minutes left. The class was filled with vapor and various scents, the best one by far coming from cauldron in front of Remus and Lily. On the other side of the table Sirius was reading the last instructions, when suddenly-

"Oh."

"What is it, Padfood, did we forget to add something?"

"No"

"Than what? We don't have much time left."

"Well, I think... I mean, that is the problem, see, you didn't read the whole instructions before we started, did you?"

"Er, I scanned it. Why?"

"Well, you obviously didn't read the last paragraph, here," he shoved it to James, looking rather apprehensive.

James took the book and began to read.

_Now if you added the __Ashwinder eggs__, and your potion turned deep purple _(theirs was a shade of plums, so it should do) _it is almost finished. You have now successfully completed the Hate potion._

What?! No! No! The title says Amortentia! How could this bee- he read on.

_As the deepest hatred can be cured only by time and warm approach, the potion needs to be kept warm for two months, until it ca be used. The power of the potion grows by time. Be warned, that the temperature determines the nature of potion. If kept in cold it will only cause stronger hatred._

James looked as if someone had slapped him. Sweat was running down his forehead. What will they do now?

"Something went wrong, Potter?" laughed Lily, now adding the last ingredient to her perfect potion.

He looked up at her, devastated. And then an idea hit him. He was saved.

"Not really," he said smugly.

Sirius, taken aback by this sudden change, looked at him questioningly.

"Just leave it to me, mate" James answered his look with huge smile.

Sirius shrugged. "As long as my manliness is still untouched after this lesson..."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Sirius didn't look entirely convinced, but he let it be.

Five minutes later Slughorn called: "Alright, time is up! Let's see what you've got for me."

He went over to the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw table first. He wasn't very impressed by the Forgetfulness potion of first pair, but nodded approvingly over the Wit-Sharpening Potion. "May come in handy sometimes," he smiled, Then proceeded to Slytherin table. The Carrows tried to brew Strengthening Solution, but it turned into thick gray paste smelling like rotten eggs. Obviously, Severus was too busy with his own potion to help them, because when Slughorn reached his cauldron, he jumped slightly. "Oh my dear, oh dear," he said, "is this your first attempt?"

"Yes sir." A victorious smirk was playing on Snape's lips. Clearly, he was convinced that nothing could overtake this.

"Indeed, a perfect Drought of living death. This is an incredibly difficult potion." But then the delighted look on his face flattered a bit, as if remembering some unpleasant memory. "But you know my dear boy, that this is very dangerous potion, don't you? I warn you never to use it in this concentration, if you don't want to spend rest of your life in Azkaban."

"Sure sir, I won't sir."

"Oh, well then, it would be shame, you are an excellent potion maker, you are, just like Miss Evans here. Let's see what she and her partner prepared for us today."

Sirius and James looked at each other. If Slughorn was impressed with that _that,_ then surely hate potion wasn't so bad. But then again, Snape was one of Slughorn favorites students, Slughorn would forgive him pretty much everything, so they still might be in trouble. They watched as the teacher went to Lily's cauldron and bent down to inhale the scent of bright yellow liquid.

"Another perfect potion!" He chuckled. "You know, if it wasn't for it's side effects, I would even taste this one. This elixir induces Euphoria, for those of you who don't know. But tell me my girl, did I smell something unusual there?"

"Well, yes, as you said it has a various side effects such as excessive singing and lightheadedness," began Lily with explanation,"and though peppermint can take care of these, I decided to experiment a bit and I added lavender instead of peppermint. You see lavender has calming effects that should also extinguish the side effects and it would not contradict with other ingredients in the potion. It also smells nicely. Lavenders are my favorite flowers, though people tend to think it's Lilies..." she ended with a shy smile.

Slughorn looked as though he might jump out of his skin from the excitement.

"Brilliant! BRILLIANT! Oh you really are natural, I have never seen something like that... and from muggleborn too. But I'm not prejudiced my dear, no, you are a living proof that anybody who cares about blood is wrong. Take ten points for Griffindor."

"Thank you, sir."

"And now only one potion left." He turned to the other side of the table still beaming. Then his expression fell. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black? What is the meaning of this?" he asked them expectantly.

"Well, sir, what you see now is the Hate Potion. It is not something we want you impress with, but we, that is Sirius and I," -Sirius pretended to be invisible- " we think it is very interesting potion. As you surely know, if kept cold, the power of the hate in potion will increase, however if it is kept warm for long enough time, the Hate in this potion will change to another emotion. It will become the most powerful love potion known to Magic world – Amortentia. I think that this potion also reflects human behavior. If you are patient enough, even the deepest hate can change into love." James finished and glanced over at shocked Lily and then back to Slughorn.

Slughorn just stared at him. Then, slowly, his expression turned back to beaming. "You've got some nerve boy, really, but you are right, absolutely right. Indeed it's very interesting potion, take another five points for that." Then, just like with Severus, he added: " I hope you are not planning to use it, dear boy, I have seen what it can do, and in the end it cases more trouble than it's worth." He blushed slightly and James wandered if he was speaking from his own experience.

Snape was murderous, he didn't get any points, while that idiot Potter got five for an unfinished potion. Of course, he had to show off in front of Lily. But it won't work, no, he knew her well enough for that. And he was right.

"I can't believe it, you mess up and then even get rewarded for it," she hissed as Slughorn turned away, assigning homework. "You didn't even know it will turn into hate potion before you started with it."

"Well, some people just know how to work their way out of the trouble," replied James sweetly. "But really, I should thank you for that. You inspired me."

"What? What do you mean, Potter?"

"I mean what I said, just think about it." And with that he got up and walked out of the class.

„You know Prongs, I thought we were done." said Sirius as he joined James outside the class. "Old Sluggy doesn't scare me, but brewing Hate potion in first class isn't the brightest idea."

"Yeah, for a few minutes I thought we had it counted too."

"I can't believe we got out of it so easily. Did you see Snape's face? He was furious,"

"If Snape was furious, it was nothing compared to Lily," Remus caught up with them, "Slughorn might have bought James' little talk, but she didn't."

"Ah, Evans will come around. She can't be mad at us for whole year."

"I'm not sure. She hated you two for five years. I somehow don't see why this one should be different. What interests me more is when James got so deep with his words."

"Deep?" snorted Sirius, "I had to gulp back my vomit by the last sentence."

"You see Padfood, that is your problem. Sometimes a few well aimed words make the difference between being rewarded and having a week's worth of detention," retorted James.

"Sure and sometimes they make difference between man and a silly lovesick girl. _I just want to show her that we are not evil, that we have feeling too_," Sirius quoted James' words in high pitched voice.

"Oh, drop it already. I was under the impression that you were glad that we got out of it."

"I'm, but I'm concerned about my best friend, who all of the sudden acts like a twelve year old girl."

"If someone acts like a twelve year old, it's you. But don't worry. I won't snog you, you are not my type." With that James turned from his friends and stormed down the corridor on the left.

Sirius stopped walking. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" he yelled after his friend, who disappeared behind the corner. He frowened. Girls went crazy after his troubled gray eyes and long black hair. Once he was even asked out by a guy.

"What's wrong with him?" he turned to Remus.

"I'm not sure."

"But you have an idea." It was not a question. Remus was the brain of Marauders, not that the others were stupid. They were all rather intelligent – well, maybe except Peter – but Remus was the one who always had some explanation.

"Er, yes, I have a theory, but as I said I'm not sure."

"Come on, Moony, your theories are almost always right."

"Okay, but don't tell James, he would get mad."

"Yeah, yeah, now, what is it?"

"See, I think that our Prongs might be in love," he said slowly.

Sirius looked at him almost pityingly, clearly expecting him to say 'April fool' or something like that. When nothing of sort came, he burst out laughing. "No way, that's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We are the Marauders. We don't do _love_." He said the last word with digusted expression.

"He chased Lily for years," argued Remus.

"Yes, but just because she is the only one he can't have doesn't mean he is in love with her. He doesn't even know her." said Sirius through the tears of laughter. "It's just fun, that's all."

"I don know, mate. I still don't think it's normal. He asks her out ten times a day."

"Look, Remus, he can have every girl in this school. Why for heavens sake would he want the only one that turned him down?" Sirius asked exasperated.

"I don't know! Maybe that's the reason! You tell me why he made that potion? Or why he acts like a complete moron around her? Or why he just yelled at you, because you pointed it out?"

For a while silence fell between the two boys. Then the gray-eyed boy asked quietly. "You really think he is in love than?"

"Yup."

"Oh. Oh, Merlin help us."

"Indeed. Especially if he took his potion talk seriously."

"What do you mean by that?" frowned Sirius.

"That by warm approach you can change hate into love if you are patient enough. That he can make her love him back. Though I'm not sure if he got the meaning of 'warm approach' right."

Their conversation was interrupted with the bell announcing the start of the next lesson. "Let's go, we will be late for Charms." They hurried off to the class. Flitwick's lesson was rather uneventful. They started on nonverbal spells. Naturaly, Lily was first one to levitate her quill without a single syllable slipping her mouth, thought she didn't seem as pleased with it as she would usually be. She was still angry at how Potter got away with his cheek, but there was something else bothering her. _You inspired me. _What could he possibly mean by that? Surely, she wasn't turning into some prank-inspiring monster. No, that's not it. It was just James Potter with his perverted mind. She shouldn't take anything he says seriously. With that she pushed it out of her mind.

"Lilyyy!" Her best friend was waving her hand in front of Lily's face desperately trying to catch her attention. "Finally," huffed Alice when she looked up. They were sitting at Griffindor table in Great Hall eating lunch. "Honestly Lily, if I didn't know you better, I would have thought you went into some kind of trance or were Imperiused."

"I was just... thinking."

"Yes, so we have noticed," joined in Mary, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What did Potter do this time?" she went on in conversational tone.

"He-" Lily started, but then stopped. "Wait, how do you know he did something?" Gossips traveled fast around Hogwarts, but this must be some kind of a record.

"Lily," said Alice slowly, "we are not your best friends for nothing. First Potter storms in the class looking like he wanted to kill somebody. Then you come in looking not much better yourself. You would just shot nasty looks in his direction an refuse to speak."

"We were practicing nonverbal spells," Lily pointed out. Alice just gave her a you-know-what-I-am-talking-about look and continued.

"Then his friends come in after the bell rings and don't even bother to excuse themselves. Not a big deal, Marauders do that all the time, even Flitwick didn't bother to remind them, but for some reason Potter would ignore them as well. They wouldn't speak togeth-"

"They hardly could, the class was completely silent," interrupted Lily again, though she was already deep in thoughts. Potter argued with his friends after potions? The Marauders never argued, in fact the only time she had seen them on not-so-friendly terms was after the Whomping Willow incident. She was still friends with Severus then. It was two years ago, so why now?

"Like that would stop them,"Alice's voice brought her back to present. "Potter looked really angry. And Black just kept looking at you as if he never seen something so intriguing before. He stared at you whole the time. Of course you wouldn't notice because at first you were concentrating on the spell and then you went daydreaming. I wonder how you can walk straight in that state."

"I wasn't daydreaming, just thinking."

"Yeah, sure Lils, we know." Mary assured her. "Alice, here, is just trying to point out that we are not stupid. We can put two and two together. Besides, It's not the first time you and James fought."

"We don't fight, I never fight. He just annoys the hell out of me." argued Lily. Alice rolled her eyes. This girl can be so stubborn.

"Will you _please_ tell us what happened in Potions?" The lunch was almost over, but they had free period now, so it didn't matter.

"Oh, okay," muttered the redhead. With that she lunched into long explanation. "And then he tells me that I inspired his little nauseating talk and leaves the room." They were back in Griffindor common room by the time she ended. "I mean he really needs to get his head checked. I think that Bludger that hit him last year might have caused some permanent damage, because the stupid arrogant toe-rag has now gone insane too."

Mary and Alice looked at each other. Alice fully agreed with Lily, but Mary was thinking hard. James Potter was arrogant git, but he had his pride. And this just didn't seem like a thing he would do. She didn't say anything, not risking a fight with Lily who, as she knew, would totally neglect the possibility that James actions might have another motive that irritating her, but she made a mental note to talk about it to Remus. If he will be willing.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Before the dinner Lily managed a quick trip to Library. She wanted to start on the homework soon, knowing that she will have to leave for patrols later. After the meal she headed to her dormitory, hoping it will be deserted. She couldn't focus in common room, especially not the first day, when everybody was still talking about summer holidays not bothering with homework. She was lucky. Plopping down onto her bed she started working on Charms essay – Theory of nonverbal spells. She got so wrapped up in her work, tat she didn't notice it was time for patrols.

"Lily," came Mary's voice from the doorway, "Remus says it's time for your patrols."

Lily looked at her watch. She was already late. She grabbed her wand and smoothed her robes before hurrying out of the dorm. In hallway Lily caught up with her friend who was returning to common room. Mary wore strange expression on her face.

"Are you okay?"

"What?" asked Mary, "Oh, yeah, I was just thinking," she repeated Lily's statement from earlier that day with grin.

"Mary MacDonald, what were you thinking about?" teased her Lily.

"Nothing important," said Mary just a bit too quickly.

"I see," she smiled knowingly, "It couldn't be certain good-looking Ravenclaw named Amos Diggory, could it?"

"Lily Evans, you surely are impossible. And to think I call you my friend!" With that Mary showed the redheaded girl aside and walked away pretending to be angry. But Lily new better. She was still smiling when she joined Remus.

"I see your spirits improved since morning."

"Sure, I can't let bloody Potter spoil my whole day," she replayed still smiling, though her eyes darkened at the mention of the boy.

"Aw, Lily, you are too harsh with him."

"Am I, now? Remus, I know you are his friend, but he has been practically stalking me for five years. Not to mention his need to show-off every time he gets a chance. Besides, you didn't seem too happy with him in Charms either."

"Ah, I thought we might get there. James acts a bit stupid sometimes, I'll give you that..."

Lily gave him stern look.

"Okay, very stupid quite often," Remus laughed. " But what you see is not real him. I think he started with whole oh-so-great Potter business for a reason."

"And what might that be?" she asked, highly doubting there existed a good reason for such a bigheadness.

"It's not my story to tell, Lily. Besides, you wouldn't believe me anyway. The Marauders have many secrets, some of them more serious than you can imagine."

Lily thought about Severus' theory on Remus' illness and wandered if that was one of their secrets. If he trusted them enough to tell them or if they found out by themselves. She was almost sure Severus was right, but she never told anybody, nor did she ask Remus. So what if he was werewolf? She got to know him during their prefect patrols last year. When he wasn't with Marauders, he was very nice to everybody, and even when he was with them, he wasn't the one to pull pranks. But he didn't stop Black and Potter either. Why? She must ask him about it next time. Right now she was too tired to argue with him, so she dropped it and they finished patrol in silence.

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_Thanks for reading! More coming soon (or so I hope)! _

_And now it's time **review this chapter** :)_


	2. Friend is as friend does

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR... I own nothing (poor me)

**AN: **_Hello! I promised to update soon so here is the next chapter. I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, I think first one was a bit better, but I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless. I realized that writing 4-5,000 words isn't something I can do easily even if I have a plot planned. I wrote and rewrote the dialogs and they still seem lame to me. Oh well, I still have a lot to learn about writing. I'll try to update at least once a week, maybe twice. I'll take my time to write chapter properly rather than writing quickly loads of crap. _

_Big thanks to everybody who added this to their favorite stories, or subscribed or reviewed! It made me want to write more. Especially those lovely reviews. I hope you won't be disappointed._

_Kate xx_

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-Chapter two-

**Friend is as friend does**

If Lily thought she would have minimum of free time that year, it was nothing compared to reality. She had so much work, she regularly fell asleep on top of her books in common room or just dropped dead onto her bed after hours of studying. Due to this she was startled when she noticed first snowflakes falling lazily behind the window. The time flew at incredible speed. But things were going well so far.

Amos asked Mary out on the first Hogsmead visit. Nobody had ever seen Mary so excited before. The morning of the visit she bounced around the dormitory complaining about her lack of appropriate date wear.

"Calm down Mary," pleaded Alice. She was rummaging through her trunk throwing out several items until finally she pulled out pair of black stilettos and red tank top with light ruffles along the neckline. "Here, wear this with that gray skirt and black tights."

"Thanks." Mary took it from her a bit more relieved. The red of the top brought out auburn tones in her chocolate brown hair and revealed just enough to get Amos' imagination running wild. She put on feathery earings that came down almost to her collarbone and swept her wavy hair to the side.

"It's cold outside, take this too," Lily handed her studded leather jacket she got from her father last Christmas. She rarely wore it, but this was perfect occasion to make use of it. "Brings a bit of rebellious look to the outfit. Now go." she winked at her and pushed her out of the door. Alice looked at Lily with raised eyebrow.

"Rebellious look?"

Lily just grinned and shrugged. Mary was so happy. And knowing that she was happy made Alice and Lily happy too. That's how best friends work.

Still, this didn't stop them from teasing Mary by imitating her nervous squeals. Every time they did it, she would turn around and leave, promising them never to speak with them again. But eventually, she always came back.

Other than Mary dating Amos nothing out of ordinary happened this year. Sure, Potions, previously one of her best subjects, turned into slow torture. In fact Potter seemed to gain some new level of annoyance. To add to his usual, he would now do things like open the door for her or volunteer to carry her bag. He smiled at her sweetly and complemented her for the stupidest things. It was ridiculous, but she supposed she would find it nice, if it came from someone else. However, as she was stuck with Potter, she couldn't be sure. No-one dared to ask her out since Potter hexed her first boyfriend Derek Lonewood, when he was about to kiss her. Derek's lips were twice their normal size for two weeks and he never tried to do it again. He broke up with her mumbling something about not wanting to stay in her way. That was the first and only time she completely lost control of her fiery temperament. Potter wasn't able to sit on a broom properly for a month, but he never admitted who hexed him. Not even to his friends. She smiled at this thought. She suspected it would earn her her first ever detention. But thanks to his ego her report was still clear.

"What are you smiling at?" inquired Alice. They were once again sitting in library doing homework. "I could do with some joke. Really, those muggles are unbelievably boring." She was pointing at her unfinished essay for Muggle Studies.

"No, they are not! They are very interesting." protested Lily.

"Sorry, sorry, not all of them I suppose." Alice raised her arms remembering Lily was muggleborn. "It's just this stupid essay... I wish I dropped Muggle studies too. Even potions were better. At least I would have a chance to apply for Auror."

"You still have a chance," said a boy approaching their table. It was Frank Longbottom. "They changed the rules about potions. It was the most problematic requirement and since Voldemort is gaining more and more power they need as much Aurors, as they can get. You now only need to pass OWLs in potions."

"I got Acceptable," beamed Alice excitedly. It was a little miracle, A was the last passing mark, but she passed nevertheless.

"That's fantastic," grinned Frank at her. She blushed deep scarlet but continued beaming. "Maybe we will become colleges."

"That would be great."

"You want to become an Auror, Frank?" Lily asked, smiling at her friend's excitement.

"Yup, I want to fight for better world," he said half joking. "And my mum would probably disown me, if chose some less noble job," he added. "But I really want to help defeating Voldemort. Seriously, that man is mental."

"That's very brave of you," said Alice. She stared up at him from her seat, her lips slightly apart.

"Yes, Frank, that's very brave of you." Lily was trying to contain her amusement, but judging by the puzzled expression on boy's face, it was no good.

"Um, thanks, I will... I will be going now." He turned around and took few steps when he heard-

"Frank, when is the next prefect meeting?" Lily called in innocent voice. She was sure this was why he came looking for them in the first place.

The Head boy turned back to face them. It was now his turn to blush slightly. "Er, yes, the meeting, yes, this Friday after supper in Staff room," he mumbled.

"Thanks, I will see you there than," Lily smiled sweetly.

"Yes, see you there." This time the poor boy almost ran from the library.

Lily turned to Alice and immediately burst out laughing upon seeing her face. Alice was still looking at the spot where Frank disappeared.

"What's so funny?" she demanded when she came out of her trance.

"The boy is head over heels into you," laughed Lily, "and you, my dear, are no better than him."

Her friend frowned at her, still blushing.

"Don't deny it. You liked him for ages, Alice. I'm your best friend, I notice how you look up whenever he is around. You would sneak secret looks at him when you think no-one is watching and I caught him staring at you few times too. It's only question of time before he asks you out."

"You think?" Alice asked trying to sound casual, but unable to hide hope in her voice.

"I'm positive." Lily assured her.

And so it was. Though he didn't ask her out immediately, he often came talking to them in common room. Lily knew head students had their own dormitories and common room, but Frank always found a reason to visit Griffindor tower. After two weeks they had sort of ritual going on. Every evening he approached them with some pointless questions, and every time he did so, Lily suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to do something and disappeared, leaving the couple together.

These days she often found herself in the library or in their dormitory working on homework alone or occasionally joined by Mary. The shy girl seemed to gain more self-confidence since she started dating Amos, while energetic Alice now developed a habit of staring blindly out the window, smiling for no reason. Lily was glad that her two best friends were doing so well.

But there was something else bugging her mind. She felt like she was lacking something. Was it because she had to share her closest friends with two other people? Or did she, perhaps subconsciously, yearned for the same? That was impossible for her, at Hogwarts at least. And she didn't know what had she done to earn such treating. Okay, she could see why Potter was teasing her. Even at primary school kids called her know-it all and made fun of her, but hexing her boyfriend was something completely different. Why couldn't he let her be? To top it all, he noticed her lonely visits of library and was following her there too, using the fact that she couldn't yell at him there.

Several times he asked her almost politely – almost being crucial word there - if he could help her with something or if he could just sit down and work on the same table. Lily found this new Potter very weird. He still pulled pranks, like the other day in Potions when he switched dried Hellebore Snape prepared for his Drought of peace with Fluxweed and Snape's cauldron exploded. And he still asked her out two times a day, a small improvement from previous years, when it was ten times an hour, but there was something funny about this gentleman charade. She thought he was just trying to get more attention and she didn't like the way of it. To her surprise, neither did his friends. Black looked very uncomfortable whenever Potter started with "Oi, Evans, let me walk you to another class" or "Evans, those books are far too heavy for a girl, give them here, I'll carry them." Remus would just shook his head unhappily. Only Pettigrew was indifferent to this. Lily suspected he just didn't notice anything unusual, but it might have been his undying respect for whatever Potter did as well.

One week before Christmas professor McGonagall came to Griffindor common room asking who stayed at school over the break. There were only four students from their house staying. Times were growing dark, Voldemort was on the raise and families wanted to spend as much time together as possible in case they wouldn't get another chance. Of course, her family knew very little about Voldemort. Lily was their only connection to magical world. When she first told them about cruel dark wizard who was killing and torturing muggleborn witches and wizards, they wanted to stop her from going back to Hogwarts. That was until she assured them that there wasn't safer place in the world for her to be, that under protective eyes of Albus Dumbledore, the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared.

She couldn't wait to see her parents. She even missed her sister, though she new Petunia didn't share her feelings. They relationship grew steadily colder since Severus revealed her that she is a witch. Tuney was jealous and maybe a bit scared too. When Lily left for Hogwarts, she took it personally. She put a wall between them and convinced herself into hating magic and everything connected with it. Lily hoped that her sister will come around one day, but after all this years, she was fairly sure that it was not going to happen. However, not even Tuney could ruin Christmas for her. Or so she thought.

She packed most of her things two days before the break - she liked to take her time with it. Alice, on the other hand, postponed everything she could until last moment. She was currently looking at the mess in her trunk, checking if she had everything she needed. It was the last evening before the break. Tomorrow morning they will be heading home.

"Isn't that Aurel, Lily?" pointed Mary at the window, where beautiful barn owl had just arrived.

"Yes, it is. I wonder what is he doing here at this time." Lily got up and let her owl in. Aurel hooted sadly. He was drenched to the last feather. "Who sent you out in this weather?" Asked Lily drying the owl with her wand.

The owl nipped her finger thankfully and stuck out it's leg where a letter was tied. She knew immediately that it must be from her parents, because it was written on normal paper. She unrolled it, curious what could be so important, that it couldn't wait till next day. The writing was a bit blurry from the melted snow, but it was still possible to read it.

_Dearest Lily,_

_We are sorry to send your owl out in this weather, but we have some important news for you. Petunia and Vernon got engaged yesterday. We know you dislike the man, but Lily, he is a decent bloke. And he can give your sister what others can't. Try to be happy for her._

_The reason why we are sending this now, is that they want to have an Engagement party on New Years Eve. They want to invite the closest family and their friends. With so many people in the house we will need as much free rooms as we can get. Lily, we are really sorry, but we think it would be better if you stayed at your school this Christmas. Please don't be angry. It's for the best._

_Have a nice holiday dear. You always said the castle looked wonderful in winter. We hope you will understand. We love you._

_Mum and Dad_

_PS: Say sorry for me to Aurel._

Lily reached the end of the letters with tears forming in her eyes.

"I can't believe it!"

"What is it, Lils?" Alice looked up from her trunk. She moved over to sit by her friend, when she saw her face. "What happened?" Lily handed her the letter. She read it quickly and handed it to Mary.

"They make you stay at Hogwarts during Christmas because they need a free room?! You are her sister, what closer family they want to invite? What sort of parents would do this to their daughter?!"

Lily just shook her head. "It's not their fault. Petunia made them do that. They just didn't want to say it directly."

"They shouldn't have allowed it," joined in Mary, who was looking at the piece of paper in her hands with disbelieve mixed with disgust.

"You don't know my sister. She has her ways." Lily stood up and headed for the door. "I need some air."

When she was out of Griffindor tower, angry tears started falling freely down her face. How could Petunia do this to her? Every time Lily was at home she tried hard to befriend her sister again. And when that wasn't possible she stayed out of her way. And what was her response? She banned her from their home on Christmas. How dare she ruin this family holiday for her. If she didn't want her for a sister, fine. But her parents were Lily's parent's too. She can't just take them away from her. She can't... WHAM! Lily was half running when she turned the corner and smashed into someone.

"Sorry," they both muttered simultaneously.

"Evans, what a pleasure!" It was Potter. "Want to take a night-time stroll wi-!"

Lily pointed her wand at his chest. "Stay out of my way Potter, I'm not in the mood." Her voice was dangerous and her green eyes were slits.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" He raised his hands above his head and took a few steps backwards. He remembered too well what happened when Lily hexed him last time and he was not going to risk it again. Just then he noticed her tear-strained face. Something was wrong. Reminding himself why he was in Griffindor he asked silently "Er, Evans... I mean Lily, are you... are you all right?"

Lily stared at him for a moment. For a first time in six years he sounded completely sincere. There wasn't a trace of arrogance in his voice. But then, it could be just shock. She shook her head, turned on her heel and ran away.

James watched her disappear behind a corner. He was really concerned about her. She looked half mad with her eyes sparkling, her face wet from crying and her fiery long hair flying wildly behind her. He knew better that to follow her now. Marauders had their own ways of watching people. He ran to his dormitory.

"Hi, James," greeted him Remus. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something."

"No time, Moony, later." He pulled a piece of parchment from his trunk and muttered "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

He waited impatiently as a map of Hogwarts slowly appeared in front of him. The castle was almost empty, most of the students were in their common rooms, so he located Lily quite quickly. She was now waking down Transfiguration corridor. He observed her as she made her way towards the girls bathroom at the very end of the corridor. But then his eyes grew wider. Someone else was there too. Four dots were moving along one of the more commonly known hidden passageways that ended right opposite the bathroom. Four dots labeled Avery, Mulciber, Carrow and Carrow. For a few seconds he watched in horror as the dots moved closer to each other. He swore under his breath.

"What's the matter? You look like you just saw Death himself."

"Not far from there." Remembering what they did to Mary Macdonald, James grabbed the map and sprinted out of the dormitory.

"Hey! Where -" Remus shouted after him.

But James didn't hear the question, as he was already halfway down the stairs. He ran across the common room, pushed aside few first years, squeezed through the portrait hole and started into the empty castle. He was tired from Qudditch practice and all the running but he didn't stop. He was only one turn from a shortcut Marauders discovered in their third year, when, for the second time that evening, he collided with somebody.

"Potter! What are you doing here?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"S-sorry?" James panted. What now? He was thinking fast. He can't tell her about Marauder's Map, or he would never see it again. However if he doesn't get to Lily soon – he shuddered at the thought. He must.

"What are you doing here, Potter? It's past curfew," professor asked him again.

"I- I heard some voices. In Transfiguration corridor."

"You heard voices in Transfiguration corridor from Griffindor tower?"

"Wha- No! But-" He was cut of by the professor.

"Then explain yourself."

"I was heading to kitchens to get some food, I missed dinner. But-" he was cut of once more. Why can't she see how important this is?

"Kitchens are on the other side of the castle," said McGonagall sternly. "I don't have time for your made up stories, Potter. Tell me what were you doing here or I'll have take points from you and give you detention." Her lips were now forming thin line.

"Please professor, I think there was some kind of fight going on in that corridor!" he was now getting desperate.

Professor McGonagall stared at him, searching his expression.

"Please!" he begged her to see the reason. She nodded.

"Very well, Mr Potter, lead the way."

James muttered 'Mischief Managed' to wipe his map and led the professor through the shortcut. He was half running with professor jogging along his side. How much longer will it take for them to find her? Finally they turned the last corner.

They both froze at the sigh that met their eyes. Four figures were standing around a crumpled form on the floor. All four of them were pointing their wands at it. They didn't seem to notice the arrival of two spectators. They were laughing on some dirty joke. Then Mulciber spoke.

"Now we will teach you a new lesson, little girl, something you can't learn in school, mudblood." He spat the last word and raised his wand. But James was quicker, the word 'mudblood' woke him up. Blood was boiling in his veins.

"Stupefy!"

The spell hit Mulciber in the chest, right over his heart. Look of surprise appeared on his face and then, with loud 'thud' that echoed through the empty castle, he fell to the floor unconscious, his wand rolling out of his hand. Three figures now turned in James' direction, pointing their wands at him. Though confused and surprised by the uninvited company, they weren't going to give up so easily. Alecto Carrow was about to curse him when professor McGonagall came out of her trance too.

"Sectumsempra!" shouted Alecto.

"Protego!" cried James and professor together. Alecto's spell rebounded from an invisible shield between her and them and she was forced to dodge it. She tripped over her robes and fell to the floor. Her brother glared furiously at them, calculating his chances if he attacked.

"Don't even try it." said professor McGonagall, disarming him nonverbally with a quick flick of her wand. Now wandless Amycus Carrow tried to flee, Avery followed his suit, but they were both stopped by well aimed Impediment jinx. With another flick of her wand, McGonagall brought them together. They struggled against the invisible ropes that tied them, head of unconscious Mulciber's body lolling from side to side as others pushed it and pulled it, trying in vain to get free.

"Never in my whole life would I imagine – Hogwarts students – how dare you!?" shrieked professor McGonagall, towering over the bounded students, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Torturing fellow student – attacking teacher!" McGonagall was fuming.

Was it not for the seriousness of the situation, James would enjoy hearing her screaming at somebody else for a change. But as it was, he had other things to take care of. He tuned her yells of and knelt beside Lily. She was trembling violently.

"Lily?" he asked softly. She raised her head slightly. There was a large gash on her left cheek. Her still horrified face was covered in blood mixed with tears. Her eyes, rimmed red and puffy from the crying, contrasted with her extremely pale skin. She looked like there was no blood left in her. "Oh, Lily, what did they do to you.." He lifted her to sitting position.

"They he- heard me cry- crying. C-c-came from th-th-there." She lifted her hand pointing in the direction of tapestry behind which, James knew, was a hidden passageway. "Th-there m-m-must b-be -"

"A secret shortcut, yes I know Lily, shh, don't speak - you are too weak. I'll take care of you. Everything will be all right." he soothed her. He turned to the teacher. "Professor, I'm taking Lily to hospital wing."

McGonagall looked at her, scrutinizing. "Yes Potter, you better do that quickly. She needs to see Madame Pomfrey."

James tried to help Lily stand up, but she was too weak, so he carried her in his arms, bridal style. He wished it was in different situation, but didn't dare to mention it. He was fairly certain that she would hex him immediately even though she was only half conscious and he was the one carrying her. Instead he rambled would-be soothing words to her.

"Don't worry, you will be all right. Madam Pomfrey knows what she is doing. Remember that Bludger that hit me last time? People were convinced that it would leave permanent damage, but thanks to her no such thing happened."

"Wouldn't be so sure, Potter." mumbled Lily. She stopped crying now.

James laughed. They were getting back to normal. "Well, I'm sure that she will fix you up in no time, Evans." he said that with emphasis on her name. "And tomorrow you will head home to celebrate Christmas with your family."

Lily gasped at this. She shut her eyes tightly and whispered "I'm not going home."

"What? Of course you are going home, Lily."

"When I say I'm not going home I mean it, Potter." she retorted sadly, though a bit annoyed.

"B-But why?"

"My sister got engaged." Tears were now forming in her eyes again.

"That doesn't make sense, Lily." He was beginning to wonder if she didn't hit her head.

"Yes, it does. She banned me from her Engagement party, so I can't go home," sobbed Lily. "She h- hates me."

"Shh, Lily, nobody in their right mind would hate you. You will work it out with your sister. It will be okay." They were now in hospital wing. He lowered her on a bed. "I'm going to get Madame Pomfrey, don't worry, everything will be all right."

Lily lay in her bed remembering the events of the last night. It was all so confusing. First the letter from her parents, then Potter being sincere, the attack, then Potter and McGonagall saving her. She stayed in hospital wing over night. Now it was eight in the morning, the castle was slowly waking up. In three hours the train will take of from Hogsmead station carrying students back to their families. It will leave without her, she thought sadly. For the first time in her life, she will spend Christmas alone. Without her family. And without her friends. She shut her eyes pushing the depressing thoughts from her mind.

"Miss Evans, you have a visitor," came the voice of Madame Pomfrey. So far Lily had only one visitor. Professor McGonagall came asking her about the details of the attack. It was painful for Lily to repeat the whole story and explain that she had to stay at Hogwarts over the break. She hoped that her evidence will lead to expulsion of the four evil slytherins that tortured her. After all, it wasn't the first time. Something similar happened to Mary in fifth year.

"Who is it?"

"It's your savior." Potter was walking to her bed smiling widely. "I see you are much better."

Lily groaned. He was so nice yesterday. Today, however, he returned to his usual self-importance.

"I guess I should thank you," she said looking at her hands, "for not listening to me and following me and, well, saving me."

"You are very welcome," grinned James. "But I didn't follow you, not immediately anyway - I didn't want to get hexed by angry Evans again," he chuckled uncomfortably. Lily's lips twitched a bit at the old memory. "I just had a bad feeling about it all – you seemed really upset – so I – I, err, returned to check on you and ran into McGonagall on the way." He left out the Marauder's Map purposefully.

"That was... uh... nice of you." She was still staring at her hands. Why was it so awkward?

"Here, I brought you something. Remus says it helps after the shock." He put a huge piece of Honeydukes best chocolate on her bedside table.

Lily looked up at him. He was wearing his usual smirk, but there was something else, softer, in his eyes.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Um, yeah, there is something else you should know, though." James shifted in his seat by her bed, his face turning more serious. "About Mulciber and his gang, they are not going to be expelled."

"What?! But – they tortured me, they used Unforgivable curse, and it wasn't for the first time they did something like this!"

"Lily, calm down, please, or Madam Pomfrey will kick me out before I can explain," he glanced at the nurse. She was glaring back at him.

"Okay, spit it out."

"You see, the school governors had a meeting early this morning. I know, because my Dad is one too. The trouble is, that Avery's and Mulciber's families are very close friends with Malfoys, who have control over the most of the other governors. Rumor is they joined Voldemort's side, and if you ask me, it's true, but it's hard to prove nowadays. Dad did what he could, but people are scared, nobody wants to mess with possible Death Eaters... "

"So instead of fighting them, they pamper their children until they too become Death Eaters," said Lily bitterly.

"Dumbledore was furious. Dad says it was scary. The man has talent of making people feel like crap with a simple look. But it didn't help."

"Yes, I can see that."

"I guess I'll go now." James said after few moments of silence. He was on his way towards the door, when he turned back to her. "I'm sorry about your sister, Lily. I really hope you will work it out with her."

She just nodded. This was going to be long holiday. She wondered if her friends knew what happened. Surly they must have noticed she didn't come back last night. But maybe they won't have time to visit her, with Alice's last-minute packing an all. Just as she was about to ask Madame Pomfrey if she can leave to say good-bye to them, the door to Hospital wing flew open.

"Lily! Oh, we were so worried last night. What happened? Potter said you were attacked! Are you all right?" Alice and Mary came inside.

"I'm okay Alice, breath."

"I'm sorry we didn't come earlier, but we didn't know where you were. Potter just told us. How come he knows sooner than your best friends?" Alice looked hurt.

"Well, he kind of saved me last night," Lily said surprised he didn't brag about his heroic actions.

"What?! What happened? Tell us now, Lily."

"There is no time for that, the train leaves in little more than half an hour-"

"We are not going home, Lily," interrupted her Mary with an eye-roll.

"What? But why?"

"You don't seriously think we will leave you alone during Christmas, do you? We wrote home yesterday after you left and explained the situation. My mum wasn't very happy about it, but she will get over it. We are staying here with you."

Lily was overwhelmed by this news. "You didn't have to do that, " she whispered.

"But we wanted to! Honestly, what kind of friends would we be, if we abandoned you on Christmas?"

"You are the best friends in the world." Suddenly the vision of holidays was much more cheerful.

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Time to review!_


	3. Secret Santa and Christmas magic

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (I always liked Ron much better :))

_**AN:** I know I promised to update in a week and I failed to keep that promise. I just had too much going on in real life and I couldn't focus on writing. But that doesn't excuse me of course. I should keep my promises. And there is a wedding in my family so I won't have time for writing at weekend, but I will certainly try to update by next Friday._

_Again my thanks goes to those who added this story to their favorite stories, or subscribed or reviewed._

_Hope you are all well._

_Kate xx_

* * *

-Chapter three-

**Secret Santa and Christmas magic**

Lily was allowed to leave the Hospital wing around the noon. Madame Pomfrey insisted on complete physical examination before she let her go. Together with Alice and Mary they headed to Great Hall for a lunch. Most of the students were gone by now and silence fell upon the castle. It seemed oddly lonely without hundreds of students filling it's corridors. The house tables were almost empty. Three girls joined four fellow Griffindors, while three other students settled at Hufflepuff table. Five Ravenclaws were already eating and there was only one Slytherin. Severus Snape, as Lily knew, always stayed at Hogwarts over the break. Usually she felt sorry for him. This time, however, the sympathy was suppressed by his betrayal and the events of the last night.

After lunch the trio returned to Griffindor tower to unpacked. Lily sighed when she opened her neatly packed trunk. No matter what she told others, she felt a bit hurt that her parents assented to Petunia's demands. But there is no use crying over it, she scolded herself, what is done, is done. Instead she focused on free time she was about to spend with her best friends. They discussed what should they do during the holiday, deciding on exploring castle and general lounging, though Lily insisted on early start on their homework.

"Relax Lily, it's nearly Christmas, we've got ages 'till the next term starts," protested Alice.

"Yeah, but we've got tons of homework too. The sooner we get rid of it, the sooner we will be free to do whatever we want without feeling guilty for postponing the work."

"Believe me, you are the only one who would feel guilty about it. Besides, we didn't stay here with you just to spend our holiday shut in the library," Mary argued. It was a low blow but she new it will work. Lily deeply valued their friendship and wouldn't force them to do anything they didn't want to do. Not after what they did for her.

"Okay, fine, have it your way. Any ideas where to start?" Lily asked sitting down on Alice's bed.

"Oh, I thought we could go to kitchens," suggested Alice. Mary stared at her astonished.

"You had lunch half an hour ago, don't tell me you are hungry again."

"And student's are not allowed in kitchens." announced Lily. "We can't go in there, what if they catch us?"

"Come on, you two. I just wanted to see what it looks like in there. Don't you ever wonder where all the delicious food comes from?"

"Yeah, well..." muttered Lily. "But that's exactly the problem, isn't it? We don't know where the kitchens are."

"It must be somewhere on the way to Hufflepuff common room," noted Mary. Alice looked at her with raised eyebrow.

"How do you know?" she asked impressed.

"Umm, Amos once mentioned it and he pointed in that direction. He said it's really easy to get food once you know how to get in there."

"And how do you get in?"

"Err, I don't know. I didn't ask. My mind was on, um, other things." Mary grinned mischievously.

"Mary Macdonald, I swear I would never imagine you will once have dirty thoughts. What happened to our shy innocent girl? I must talk to Diggory about the bad impact he has on you." teased her Lily.

"You will do no such thing. It wasn't anything dirty I was thinking about," claimed Mary, but her blush said otherwise. "You wait, one of these days you will get yourself a boyfriend too and then we will see who will laugh."

"I was just joking," said Lily in her defence. "Just joking."

"I know. I wasn't, though," huffed Mary.

"What's that supposed to mean? You know as well as I do that while James Potter walks the corridors of this school no-one will dare to date me."

"Oh, I don't think Potter will be the problem this time." Mary said matter of factly. "Now let's go, I guess we will just have to look around down there and see if we can figure something out." She stood up and left the dormitory with others following her, Lily still frowning.

Together they made their way down to the Entrance hall, through the door on the right, where Hufflepuffs usually disappeared, and down another staircase. They found themselves in broad brightly lit stone corridor decorated with many paintings, mostly shoving delicious food.

"Whoa! I guess we are close." Alice was admiring a painting of wizard tucking in enormous beautifully decorated chocolate cake.

"You are drooling, Alice," mocked her Lily, although she had to admit that the paintings were mouthwatering. "Let's see if there is a door somewhere here." She couldn't believe she was doing it. Lily Evans breaking school rules to sneak in the kitchens. Though she didn't get to actual sneaking in act because as they looked around, walking up and down the corridor, they found no door. Alice tried to pull on several portraits only to be laughed at by their inhabitants.

"We probably need password to get in," concluded Mary. She tried several random expressions like 'frying pan', 'roasted potatoes' and 'marmalade' which only resulted in more laughing. "Why don't you just tell us how to get in?" she roared at the portraits, exasperated.

"Students are not supposed to go in kitchens," pointed out wizard with chocolate cake.

"But some of them do get in,"argued Alice.

"They know how to do it," the wizard said simply and he returned his full attention back to the chocolate cake.

"Stupid idiotic portraits," huffed Alice as she kicked the wall immediately regretting it. "Ouch!"

"We should get away, there is no use in standing here if we don't know what to do - we will only get caught. Mary can write to Amos and ask him how do you get in." Lily led the way back to the Entrance hall. Alice and Mary gave one last longing look to delicious meals before heading up the stairs too. Large tree was walking across the Entrance hall towards the Great Hall.

"Out off the way, yah there!" called the tree in booming voice of Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts.

"Hello Hagrid!" greeted him girls. They liked the gamekeeper, but didn't know him very well, so they moved towards the staircase.

"Been for a little snack, eh?" asked Hagrid. Lily froze on the spot. Slowly she turned around.

"I could do with some of those puddin's they make after I'm done with this." Hagrid muttered more to himself then to them. Then he noticed Lily's expression. "Somethin' wrong? It's Lily Evans, init?"

"I – uh - yes – I mean yes I'm – but - " she stumbled on her words, "but we weren't in the kitchens."

"Oh, sure, don't yah worry, I'm not tellin' anyone." Hagrid winked at her from behind the tree. "Yer friends go there all the time."

"We – wait, which friends?" she frowned, momentarily forgetting that they were just accused of breaking school rule after unsuccessful attempt to do it.

"The Marauders of course." said Hagrid as if it couldn't be more obvious. "Had to chase them lot outta the forest at least hundred times. Biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever seen. But they are good at heart, they are, always pay me a visit... They speak very highly of yah." He jerked his head in Lily's direction. Lily's frown deepened. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing." Lily put up a smile for him. "It's very kind of you not to report us, Hagrid, but we really weren't in kitchens. We, um, don't know how to get in."

"Ah, yah only need to tickle a pear on the picture with fruit bowl or somethin."

"Er, thanks. We – we will go now." She turned to leave, walking in Alice, who stood right behind her.

"Have you been there?" she asked in wonder.

"Nah, too big, yah see. Would't be able to get in. James mentioned it once to me. Listen Lily, why don't yah come for a cuppa tea sometime? With yer friends, I mean."

Lily wasn't sure what to say to that. She liked Hagrid. She believed in muggle saying that eyes are the window to the soul and Hagrid's beady black eyes were always sparkling kindly. Still, he was a bit – different. And big. She was spared the need to answer because the voice of professor McGonagall came from Great Hall.

"Hagrid, what takes you so long?"

"Commin now, professor," shouted Hagrid in response. He turned to girls once more. "It was jut an idea. Yah know where my hut is. Now get out of here before McGonagall comes inquiring."

The girls didn't need telling twice.

...

"Wake up! WAKE UP!"

"What's the matter, Alice? What happened?" mumbled Mary with her eyes still tightly shut.

"Christmas happened! Wake up, I want to see my presents!" jumped excited Alice.

"You don't need us to see your presents." Lily was roughly shaken in her bed.

"But I want to see your presents too!"

"You can see them later, let us slee-ep." yawned Mary.

"Nope." Alice took Lily's covers and began pulling at it. Lily clutched it with all her strength, but her friend was stronger. With one sharp pull Alice yanked the covers from the bed and Lily, still holding on them for dear life, fell off her bed. Alice lost her balance and followed Lily's suit. She tried to steady herself, catching bed curtains, but they ripped off and fell onto her. Mary finally opened her eyes, searching for the source of all the noise.

"What are you two doing down there?" she looked at her friends lying on the floor. Alice was waving her arms, trying without success to disentangle herself from curtains. In fact she only seemed to gain opposite effect. Lily, on the other hand curled up to a ball, covered herself with blanket and continued sleeping. Mary laughed. It was so typical for her friends.

"What's – so – funny?" Alice asked furiously. She could barely move now. It only caused Mary to laugh harder.

"You should see yourself. You would find it funny too."

"Well, if you don't help me any time soon, I'm not going to find anything funny anymore, because I'm going to suffocate!" huffed Alice.

"Okay, okay, calm down." Mary walked over to her friend and helped her to get rid of the curtains. When Alice was finally free they both turned to Lily.

"I can't believe it! She has gone to sleep again."

"Oh, now that I'm not going to get any more of _my_ sleep, I think I know perfect way how to wake her up too." Mary grinned smugly. She reached for her wand at bedside table and pointed it at Lily's foot, that stuck out from her covers. "Rictusempra!"

Lily suddenly started giggling manically. "S-s-stop it!" Both girls roared with laughter at the sight of their friend rolling on the floor, clutching her stomach. "Stop it! P-please!" She tried to control her movements, but it was impossible. "Not – funny!"

"Isn't it? Then why are you laughing too?"

Lily tried to glare at them, but it was ruined by new wave of giggles.

When Mary thought it was enough to stop her friend from going back to sleep, she muttered counter-charm to stop the tickling. Lily had tears in her eyes as did Alice and Mary.

"What a cheerful morning," commented Alice smiling. "Now let's go open presents!"

Lily glared at her but moved to the pile of presents at the foot of her bed. Together they began unwrapping their presents. Lily got some books, lavender quill and bottle of aromatic ink from Mary, matching diary that only opened on owners command from Alice and new watch from her parents. As muggles they didn't know the tradition of giving watch to children once they come off age, but it didn't matter, she will be seventeen in little more than a month. She turned to Mary who was admiring soft silver necklace that Amos gave her.

"It's very pretty," she smiled at her friend.

"Yeah, it is. Much better then what Alice got from Frank," grinned Mary. Alice was staring at rather awful scarf.

"He probably got the idea from his mother," she sighed. "That woman has horrible taste in fashion. I guess I'll just have to hint him somehow that this isn't my style. But it's the thought that counts, right?" She folded the scarf sadly.

"So, are you two dating now?"

"No, not yet. We take things slowly. Hey Lily, you forgot to open one present."

"No I didn't, I've got them all."

"Yes, you did. There," Alice was pointing to small box lying on the floor next to Lily's bed, "it must have fallen when you opened the others."

Lily reached for the box and untied the ribbon. She pulled the lid off to reveal decent gold charm bracelet. There were two charms on it. A small lily and a beautiful pair of stag and dove. When she picked it up from the box, the gold sparkled in the light of rising sun.

"Wow, Lily, who is it from?" Alice came closer to examine it properly. "It's wonderful." Lily searched the box searching for some note but there wasn't anything.

"I don't know, there isn't anything else in the box, no note... nothing."

Mary humphed, seemingly deeply in thoughts. She really must talk to Remus once he returns from holiday.

"But who would give you something like this? It must be really expensive," inquired Alice.

"I have no idea." Lily looked once more at the bracelet. Should the pair of animals tell her who is behind it. She wondered if maybe Severus... but no, he wouldn't. So who?

"Come on, lets get something to eat, I'm starving," Alice interrupted her thought. Lily looked at her new watch.

"I's too early, the breakfast haven't even started."

"Oh." Alice's face fell.

"Well, I think I have solution to this particular problem." Mary got up and marched from the dormitory.

"Look for the bowl with fruit."

"I think it's this one." Alice stood in front of huge painting. She reached to tickle the pear. The fruit chuckled and turned into doorknob. She pulled at it and the picture swung open, revealing bright room of the size of Great Hall. It too had four tables and Lily suspected that the room must be directly under the Hall. Around hundred small creatures were serving various meals on the tables. Eggs, toasts, jam, sausages, waffles... they were clearly preparing breakfast.

"Wow," breathed Alice as they stepped inside, amazed.

"What can we do for Mistresses?" Two of these creatures appeared in front of the girls bowing lowly. Lily knew what these creatures were, but she had never seen any before. The house-elves usually belonged to old pure-blood families with big manors and though her friend Alice was pure-blood, they didn't have a house-elf. For all she knew, house-elves were treated like slaves by wizards and she couldn't help feeling disgusted at the idea that every meal at Hogwarts was prepared by this number of little slaves. She looked around. They were all dressed in white tea towels and they all seemed extremely happy working. Maybe they liked the idea of serving to wizards.

"We, um, wanted some breakfast." Mary was the first one to recover from the shock.

"Yes, miss, what would you like to eat?" asked one of the elves eagerly. Judging by the squeaky voice it was female.

"Can we have some of those?" Alice pointed at the pile off waffles that were just being served ot the copy of Ravenclaw table.

"Of course, anything at all, miss." The elf bowed again and quickly walked away.

"Would you like to sit down," second elf asked. This one, guessed Lily, was a male. As they nodded, the elf led them to the table nearest to them. They settled down just few seconds before the female elf appeared again, carrying a plate with waffles over her head. Two other elves at her side held jugs in their hands. One with waffle syrup and one with pumpkin juice.

"Here you are mistresses, anything else?"

"No, this will be enough," said Mary. The elves looked a bit disappointed by her answer. Lily thought that maybe it was rude of Mary to say that, so she quickly addressed to the female elf -

"Thank you very much, um -what's your name?"

"Tinky, miss," squeaked elf.

"Thank you very much, Tinky." The elf looked a bit embarrassed but pleased.

"It's Tinky's pleasure, mistress," she bowed again. "Call us if you want something else."

The elves returned to their work, letting girls eat in silence. As they finished with breakfast and raised to leave, the elves enclosed them once more bowing and courtesying, pushing snacks and cakes in their hands. When the trio finally left the kitchens, they had arms full of food.

Lily peaked into the Entrance Hall, checking. It would look really suspicious if somebody caught them with armfuls of food heading from that direction. Not like teachers didn't know some students often sneaked to the kitchens, but Lily was proud of _not _being one of these students. Well, until that morning anyway.

They were lucky, nobody was there. When they walked past Great Hall they saw that food already appeared on four house tables, though in considerably smaller amount than usual, as there were so few students.

"Weird creatures, those house-elves, aren't they?" asked Mary.

"Yeah, I never knew there are any at Hogwarts, but they seem so happy," Lily replied.

"It's in the nature of house-elves to serve wizards. And it's in the nature of wizards to misuse it, says my mum. But it looks like those here are taken care of. They are clean and uninjured. Some families treat them like slaves and punish them for every little mistake. Better said, they order them to punish themselves. I have once seen a house-elf who had to iron his fingers because he slightly burned a cake," Alice shuddered at the memory.

"But that's horrible!"

"Yeah, that's why we don't have a house-elf. Mum doesn't like the idea of other creatures serving wizards."

"I wouldn't like it either." Said Lily.

"I don't know. It doesn't sound so bad... if you treated them properly, I mean. You have seen them, they are happy when they can work. And I wouldn't have to do all the cleaning myself."

"Hmm, maybe you are right... listen, would you mind a quick visit to library. I wanted to check on something."

"Lilyyy, it's Christmas morning, how can you possibly think of studying?"

"I didn't mean studying, just wanted to -" she stopped mid-sentence at the looks her friends were giving her. "Oh, okay, it's probably closed now anyway."

They returned to Griffindor common room. Mary pulled out her chess set and challenged Alice for a game. They settled in front of fireplace, Lily watching her two friends playing. Mary was much better that Alice and soon Lily's thoughts shifted to something else. She was still musing about her charm bracelet. Who could it be from? Who would give her something so beautiful and don't even bother to leave a note with name? She held the charm with stag and doe closer to her eyes. There was something special, majestic about the pair, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"That's not fair," Alice's voice interrupted her internal debate. "I'm not playing with you any more! You won three times in a row!"

Lily and Mary chuckled. It always ended like this but every time Mary challenged her, Alice couldn't resist a chance for revenge - revenge that never happened. She looked at them angrily.

"Anyone fancy a snowball fight?" asked Mary, knowing it would cheer Alice up. She was right of course and few minutes later they were climbing out of portrait hole wrapped in their cloaks. Lily wasn't too enthusiastic about it, but kept her mouth shut. Halfway down charms corridor a greasy haired figure approached them.

"Lily, can I have a word with you?" asked Severus Snape.

"I have nothing to talk to you about," Lily answered coldly walking past him.

"Please, just for a minute." He followed her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stopped. Her friends stopped too, standing protectively one at each side of her.

"In private." He looked pointedly at Alice and Mary.

"There is nothing you can tell me that I would keep from my friends."

"But-" Lily made a move signalizing they were leaving. "Okay, wait. I'm sorry." She shot him a plain questioning look. "For what happened that night before break," he added quickly.

"Is that supposed to mean that you are no longer friends with Mulciber and his gang?" Her voice was a tad bit warmer. Maybe their friendship wasn't completely lost, she thought. Maybe there was a chance.

However, the question took Snape by surprise. "Wha- no. Listen, it won't happen again. It was just – I – they didn't – didn't-"

"Didn't what, Severus? Didn't mean it?" Lily laughed but there wasn't the tiniest bit of humor in that laugh. "Come on, you don't believe that yourself. They used unforgivable on me, Severus. You have to mean it for it to work. And I think I can tell if it worked." Her voice was icy again.

"It was -"

"Stop it," she interrupted him once again. "We had this discussion last year. I would rather we were still friends, but you made your choices and I made mine. That's where it ends." This time she marched off and he didn't follow. She was angry again and there was hollow feeling in her chest. She knew their friendship was over long ago, but it wasn't easy to forget. She recalled the night when she finally gather strength to finish it officially. He was waiting for her in front of portrait of Fat Lady, trying to apologize for calling her mudblood and she told him the same as today. He chose his way, she chose hers.

She was in no mood for games and she joined in only reluctantly, but after five minutes she found herself enjoying it. It helped her to forget all about lost friendship and anonymous gifts. After fifteen minutes three Ravenclaws joined them too and they made teams. Ravenclaws had advance of one boy who played chaser on their Quidditch team, but girls cooperated better and were quick at dodging balls. By the lunchtime they were all soaking wet and exhausted. The fight ended undecided.

They were starving when they entered Great Hall. Girls decided to join their friends at Ravenclaw table motioning for their fellow house-mates to do the same. When Hufflepuffs came and saw the large group, they joined the table too. It was Christmas after all - what's better time to get together? There were all - from first years to seventh years and they all laughed and chatted together. That's how professor Dumbledor and professor McGonagall found them.

"Oooh, look Minerva, Christmas working it's magic," said Dumbledore smiling fondly at his students.

"Indeed, headmaster. Shall we join them?"

"Ah, I would certainly like to, but I'm afraid they wouldn't be so willing to complain about homework and laugh about my outfit in our company, don't you think?"

"Oh yes, you are right, of course," agreed professor McGonagall looking as if that was exactly the thing she wanted to prevent.

"I think so," smiled Dumbledore as they walked to the teachers table. He winked at a little second year who was ogling at his red and white robes, which combined with his white beard mad him look like muggle Santa Claus, only about hundred pounds lighter. The second year blushed deep scarlet and turned away quickly.

Lily too eyed their headmaster curiously, though she was more discreet. She always thought Dumbledore had a bit unusual sense of humor – or whatever led him to dress like this. She supposed it came as a part of a package with his brilliant mind.

"So what are we doing for the rest of the day?" asked Alice. "I'm dead on my legs and I can't face any more chess today."

"Umm, maybe we could go visit Hagrid," suggested Lily. "I don't think he has any visitors over the break and it's Christmas. Nobody should be alone at Christmas." She was thinking about it since they left the kitchens. Mary and Alice agreed. After all, he was the one who told them how to get in there.

They magically dried their clothes and headed outside the castle towards the gamekeeper's hut. Hagrid was really pleased when he opened the door.

"Hullo Lily! Come in."

"Um, hallo Hagrid. These are my friends Alice Ford and Marry Macdonald. You already met them." Lily wasn't sure how to act around him. Sure he was marauder's friend so he can't be very strict, but he was still school employee. And his size gave off the impression of someone you didn't want to anger. However, they soon realized that they had nothing to worry about. Hagrid was easy-going. He thanked them for visiting him every five minutes and he offered them his own hand-made fudge cakes. They politely took them but learned that they want to be careful with eating them.

He also had a puppy of boarhound. Lily imagined it would be huge once it grew up, but now it was still cute and harmless. Hagrid named him Fang. He cared about this puppy with so much love that some parents could take an example from him on how to care for their own children. It fascinated Lily and when he asked them to visit him sometimes again she promised they would come.

"You know, I must admit I had some doubts when he invited us, but it was really nice visit," said Mary on their way back to castle.

"Mhm, I wasn't sure about it either. He looks so scary."

"Well, that's what we get for judging by the looks," smiled Lily.

The rest of the holiday passed in blur. There were more inter-house snowball fights. They went to visit Hagrid sometimes and, on Lily's insists, they studied.

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Reviews make me feel more excited about writing, so if you want to see next chapter up as soon as possible, you know what to do :)_


	4. Deal with the devil

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (You wouldn't believe me anyway if I said I'm JK, so what's the issue?)

_**AN:** I'm almost afraid to publish this. What was it? Five months? I'm going do dig a hole and hide in it. And I'm never promising anything anymore. But just to let you know, I really want to finish this one day in who knows how distant future. This is supposed to be filler-starter-some more insight into character chapter. More action next time. I promise. Wait. I DON'T. But I want. Confusing? Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!_

_Kate xx_

* * *

-Chapter four-

**Deal with the devil**

The teachers started new term with speeches about double amounts of homeworks, emphasizing the nearing NEWTS. As if that was not enough, a big sign announcing apparition lessons appeared on the common room notice boards one morning. It was a twelve week course for students who reached adulthood before the next school year - that meant all sixth years. The lessons were not compulsory, but apparition was the quickest and most exciting way of traveling and this was the best chance to learn it without risking some serious injuries.

Thus Lily quickly signed for it, wondering how much of her free time will this lessons consume. When she first heard of wizards disappearing at one place and then popping out of thin air at another, she searched whole library trying to learn the theory out of the books. To her disappointment, apparition was either so natural part of magic world that nobody bothered writing about it, or it was so dangerous if done inexpertly, that there were no books describing how to do it, preventing students from trying it. She inclined towards the second option after discovering rather morbid book called _The most fascinating injuries_. Some really nasty cases of splinching – separation of random body parts caused by amateurish or hasty apparition – were mentioned there.

Apart from this, she only found a bright pink, not very informative leaflet saying something about three D's.

Wondering where the lessons will take place, as it was impossible to apparate in the castle, she hurried towards the Great Hall. Alice and Mary had first period free and though Alice was already up, she had a homework for Muggle studies to finish. When Lily pointed out that they are going to miss the breakfast, Alice just shrugged and said they will get something from kitchens later. Due to this Lily was surprised when somebody caught up with her.

"Hey Lily!" came cheerful voice of James Potter. "How was your holiday?"

Lily stopped and James bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry, this keeps happening to us," he apologized with a grin.

"It only happened twice," Lily rolled her eyes. She hoped that maybe after what happened before Christmas, Potter would stop pestering her, but obviously it was going to be the opposite. Considering if she should start arguing with him, explain him for thousandth time that she despised him or just ignore him, she settled for neither. After all, he did save her. He was even polite. And he did nothing to annoy or anger her – well, aside from his presence. She took a calming breath. " And I had a great time with my friends, thank you" she answered his question and took a few steps in her previous direction.

"Yeah, I heard. Sneaking in kitchens, eh?" James raised an eyebrow at her cockily, trying to start a conversation.

"How do you know?" Anger and shock flashed in Lily's green eyes as she faced him again.

"Hey, relax. What's the big deal? You sneaked to the kitchens, good for you. You have finally decided to have some fun. I thought you didn't know the meaning of that word. Now we only need to get you in detention and you will be a perfect candidate for Marauder's girlfriend. Even Sirius won't object any-more." James joked realizing only seconds later that it was very wrong thing to say to Lily Evans. She narrowed her eyes.

"Who told you?" she asked again.

"Lilyy, calm down. I got it from Hagrid. He thinks you and I are friends. I mean I wish we wear and after what happened before holiday I thought..." Lily shot him another nasty look that made it clear she didn't share his feelings.

"You and I will never be friends." Lily hissed. James started to protest but she continued. "And if you open your mouth and try to get me into detention just to humiliate me some more I swear-"

"I wouldn't do that!" He finally managed to over-shout her. "Honestly, I was only teasing you."

"Why should I believe you, Potter? After all these years." Her eyes, previously wide with shock, were now slits.

"I may be a prat sometimes, but I would never lie to you or tell on you." James said softly, yet persistently. For some reason this only seemed to anger her.

"Yeah, you spend over five years stalking me, you cursed my boyfriend, you were constantly harassing my best friend and you are part of the biggest troublemakers at Hogwarts, but I should calm down because you would never lie to me? Like it wasn't your dream to see Lily Evans in detention. That would be something for you to laugh about, wouldn't it?" she paused daring him to deny it. He only stood there staring at her. Where did this conversation went so wrong? She took his silence as confirmation of her accusation. "And yeah, I thought I would give you a chance after that night. But it was probably just another of your little mind tricks." She chuckled darkly. "But, I'm not that naive, Potter. I see what you are doing now. Earning my trust so I would be more hurt and humiliated when you betray it. Well, I've got news for you – it's not going to work." When Lily finished her speech silence filled the corridor. They were looking at each other - Lily's face angry, James' expressionless.

"I'm sorry that's how you look at things," muttered James after a moment. Then he turn around and left her.

Lily fumed as she stomped down the corridor. Why did he always managed to get her so worked up? When she calmed down a bit, she regreted loosing control of her anger like that. But he was just so annoying, so full of himself and so very confusing she couldn't help it. She thought about the conversation. Was he really playing mind tricks on her. It would certainly explain a lot... She shook her head.

…..

James headed back to common room_, then changed his direction_. His friends were still there and he was in no mood to deal with them. What would he tell them anyway? Marauders were not supposed to keep secrets from each other. And here he was, loving a girl that hated him, hardly being able to admit it to himself. Was it really love? Wasn't love supposed to be a good thing? And yet here they were struggling to have one conversation that wouldn't involve shouting and insulting. Worse even, everything she said was true, she had every reason to hate him and he was the only one responsible for it. Afraid that his pride might get hurt, he hid behind a jokes, pranks and arrogance. Only now did he saw what his cowardice cost him.

Deciding to skip potions he slid behind a tapestry concealing staircase, that would lead him to kitchens without having to pass Great Hall. There he accepted mug of hot chocolate from house elves and settled in front of huge fireplace, staring into the fire. He ignored his surroundings trying to clear his mind of depressing thoughts. Of course firewhiskey would be much more helpful than hot chocolate, but he didn't plan on skipping whole day. A month of detentions wouldn't help to improve his mood.

"Hey, mate." Sirius' voice startled him. "You okay?"

James nodded.

"Why are you hiding here?"

"Just wanted some chocolate." He raised his mug. It wasn't much of a reason to skip classes, so he tried to change the subject. "You?"

"Well, I'm actually making sure you are alive."

James looked at his bes mate confused. "Why wouldn't I be alive?"

"Um, you weren't at breakfast and you didn't turn up for Potions, so I volunteered to look for you. Oh, and Evans looked like she was ready to commit a murder and you are usually the intended victim, so..." Sirius tailed of. He was joking about the redhead but he turned serious when he saw the expression on James' face. "Any chance you will tell me what happened?"

"Just usual," muttered James.

"Usually after you two argue you just wave your hand and laugh and plot another way how to irritate her. You don't go hiding in the kitchens."

James waved his hand and tried to laugh. It ended up in painful grimace. "Happy?" he asked as he stood up and made for the door. He really didn't want to talk about it. What would he say anyway?

Sirius smiled, but it was sort of serious smile rarely found on his face. "No. I'm not happy. Not until you tell me what happened."

James sighed. "I told you. As usual. We had a row, she got really angry and I don't want to risk irritating her any more by my presence until she calms down. I have my reasons."

"Yeah, I think she shoved you what she is capable of after you hexed that Lonewood guy, but..."

"What!?"

"Oh, come on, we all know it was her who cursed you that time," Sirius laughed.

James groaned. So much for keeping secrets from Marauders. How much more do they know?

"But this isn't about physical pain, is it?" Sirius asked without humor.

"I don't want to talk about that." Well, they know more than he thought possible, James answered his own question.

"You really care for her, don't you?"

James looked at his friend. It was weird, such words coming from his friend. And yet, there was no teasing in Sirius' gray eyes. Only sympathy. After all, who would know better what it feels like to be unwanted than a boy who had to run away from his own family? He remembered that summer evening when Sirius came to his house carrying his school trunk, shaking from head to feet but with determined defiant expression. The day when Sirius has decided to show where his loyalty lies. It was a decision that men much older were afraid to make. And yet here was James, scared to admit that he liked a girl? It was almost ridiculous. Slowly, he sat down again and nodded.

"So Remus was right!" shouted Sirius laughing. "Again. I can't believe it. Prongsie in love. Lovestruck James Potter." Few house-elves gave them curious looks before continuing in their work.

"Will you stop it? Sometimes you really sound like twelve year old girl. Besides, it doesn't matter, if I care for her or not. She hates me."

"She will come around. You _are_ James Potter after all. Girls just love you."

"Not this one. Not her. I thought she _would_ come around. I had a plan. It was going well, until this morning. Now, she will never speak to me again."

"Yeah, Moony mention something about taking that potions talk you gave in our first lesson seriously. Was that your plan? Because he said you misunderstood some parts of it."

"Seems like it."

They fell silent, then Sirius asked: "How do you know?"

"What?"

"How do you know you love her, you prat? You never even held a proper conversation with her."

"Well, I don't know, really. It's just seems I can't stay away from her. She is different then the other girls. She is loving, intelligent, funny, loyal... all that stuff you are not." Sirius made a face at him but stayed silent so James continued. "She was friends with Snivellus, you know, even after he became part of Avery's gang. I think she hoped that he will change his mind. Was wrong with this, wasn't she? And it seems her sister is complete bitch but the way Lily spoke about her, she still loves her. And yeah, she has bloody temperament, but it's kind of fun fighting with her. But if you ask me if I love her, I must say I don't know for sure. And by the looks of it, I will never find out."

Again Sirius stayed silent contemplating what he just heard. "I'm sure it's possible to fix it," he pronounced at last. "You said yourself it was going well."

"But you don't understand, Padfoot. She gave me a chance and I wasted it. I shattered it to pieces with few wrong words. She is never going to believe me again. She thinks I'm liar who wanted to use her trust to hurt and humiliate her. And nobody can blame her, after all this years..."

"That does sound badly."

"Really? I haven't noticed." James said sarcastically.

"Cheer up, James. And for heaven's sake stop feeling sorry for yourself. We are The Marauders, we will figure something out."

"I highly doubt that. Apart from having fiery temperament, she is also bloody stubborn. I've been playing good guy for half a year and it took bunch of Slytherins almost killing her to even speak to me without disgust in her voice."

"You lost me now. You said your plan was going well."

"It was. She wasn't going to bite my head of this morning. She was going to give me a chance, she said so herself."

"Then what happened?" Asked confused Sirius.

"I teased her about sneaking to kitchens." James put his head in his hands.

"So? We do that all the time. Hell, we ARE in the kitchens now," grinned Sirius pointing out the irony of the situation. "But honestly, she can't be mad at you because of that. How stupid that would be?"

"It's Lily Evans we are talking about. Lily Evans doesn't sneak to kitchens, it's against school rules. She thought I was going to report her and then laugh at her. Like McGonagall would even believe me."

"Well, it would be something, Lily Evans getting detention."

"Exactly, that's the point. She -" James stopped. Somebody else entered the kitchens. The last people he wanted to see now. Alice Ford and Mary Macdonald. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Wait!" hissed Sirius.

"What now?"

"They can help us."

"Are you insane? They are going to kill me on principle."

"No, they are most certainly not. Listen, if you want your precious girl back, not that you ever had her, we are going to need any help we can get. And what's better than two of her best friends? Besides, Mary already spoke to Remus about it.

James was getting annoyed with his best friend: "You listen, Sirius Black, I will not..." Then the meaning of his last words hit him."What do you mean, Mary spoke to Remus about it?"

"I mean that she too noticed that you were acting like a lovestrucked moron lately."

James frowned at him, but remained silent and prayed to God that his best mate knew what he was doing as Sirius got up and motioned for the girls to join them.

Mary noticed them first and she muttered something to Alice, but from the far end of the kitchens he couldn't here what it was. Alice gave her friend a dubious look, then she shrugged and nodded. Mary made a gesture for Sirius to wait for them as she asked for food from house-elves. Then both girls made their way towards the boys.

"Hey Ford, Macdonald." greeted them Sirius cheerfully.

"Black, Potter," answered Alice more sternly. Mary and James nodded at each other.

"I was wandering if you would be so kind and keep us company while you have this wonderful breakfast," Sirius was eying plates with toasts and fried eggs that hose-elves just brought for the girls. He licked his lips. "May I?"

"Help yourself." Marry offered. "Is there any particular reason why all of the sudden you decided to speak to us?"

"Can't we just have a friendly conversation over breakfast with our classmates without needing reason?"

"After six years of going to the same school and ignoring us purposefully? " She gave Sirius dubious look and glanced suggestively at James, who was still looking unconvinced by his best friend's plan.

"Uh, well... as it is, I believe you already know what's going on. And I was hoping you two could help us." Sirius smiled sweetly at brunet.

Mary returned the sweet smile. "And why were you thinking so?" She wasn't going to make it easy for them. For once they were the most arrogant beings that walked the corridors of Hagwarts castle and for second she didn't have a clue how she could help.

Sirius took a deep breath. James was his best mate, brother really, but God help him if he will have to openly plead for help because of some girl. He open his mouth, not sure, what hi was going to say, but Alice interrupted him.

"Wait, what's this all about?" she addressed the question to Sirius. He pursed his lips and glanced at James. When he didn't answer Alice turned to Mary. "Well?" But Mary too looked at James.

James, seeing there was no way out of it, thought he may as well confess. Judging by Alice's expression she shared Lily's opinion on him, but who knows. It couldn't get any worse, could it? And so he spoke up.

"It's about Lily." A brief pause and then, "And me. I don't want to fight with her any more."

"And what makes you?" Alice shot him a quizzical look. "Just leave her alone. It would be relief. For all of us."

"No, you don't understand. I don't want to fight with her because... Well, I never really wanted to fight with her. I mean I think. I thought I did but it was just because... because..." Gosh this is hard, James thought.

"Because the stupid prat doesn't know how to catch the girl's attention otherwise than fighting with her," Sirius finished for him.

"Gee, thanks mate, that makes me look really like a man of her dreams."

"It's true, though." Sirius grinned at his friend.

James put his head in his hands. "Yeah, I know, I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Wait, wait, wait. You want to tell me that all of that harassing, pestering and fighting was because you fancy her?!" Alice was trying to make sense of what she just heard.

"Right you are, Ford. I see you are much brighter than my mate here." Sirius winked at her.

"You honestly expect that I will believe this? Than _anybody_ in their right mind will believe this?"

"Well, I know how crazy it sounds. At first I laughed at the absurdness of the idea myself, sorry mate," apologized Sirius when James shot him nasty look, "but evidently your friend here," Sirius pointed at Mary, "came to the same conclusion without Remus pointing it out for her."

At this Alice turned to Mary, still doubting this all. Mary, however, nodded.

"It makes sense Ally. If you admit that somebody can be dumb enough to think that by torturing your best friend and hexing you boyfriend he will make you like him, then it makes perfect sense. He is stupid, jealous, attention wanting git. And a coward too. Refusing to face the true. But I think he likes her. A lot."

"Hey, I appreciate that you believe me, but I can still hear you. And it wasn't as though I hexed Lonewood because I wanted her to notice me. I was jealous, yes, but at that time I didn't know... he was just another annoying git to me. I realize now that it was cruel and... well, stupid. But can you please stop insulting my intelligence?" James complained.

"But, how can anybody be _so _stupid?" Alice wandered.

"Well, it's James. It's.. let's say natural talent. But I think today's row really wasn't so much for his faults than for Lily's pride. And that's why I wanted to talk to you. As his best mate I'll do anything for him but when it comes to heart-stuff I'm not much help." Again Sirius grinned his typical grin.

Alice ignored him. Instead she turned to James. "It's the first day of new term and you already managed to fight with her? That must be your personal record."

"I didn't want to fight this time, honest. After that night before Christmas I thought we could be at least friends. How was I supposed to know that she will blow at me if I tease her about sneaking to kitchens?" James looked helplessly at Alice, but it was Mary who answered him.

"Well, she wouldn't get angry for such a stupid thing with one of us, you know. She might even laugh with us. It just that..."

"That it was me," sighed James unhappily. "Yes, I figured that much, but it was too late. I wasted my chance."

"Again I repeat – that's why we need you girls. We need somebody who actually knows how her mind works. And in best case somebody, who will subtly persuade her to give him one more chance." Sirius put on his best sad puppy face. "I mean, he can be arrogant toe-rag, stupid prat and egoistic git, but that's not why he is my best friend."

"And here I thought you were friends because you had all those things in common." Alice remarked sarcastically.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, it might be part of it, but that's hardly the point. Will you help us? I mean him. Gee, Prongs, you could say something too. I'm destroying my reputation here for you and you just sit here pitying yourself."

James looked at his friend, than at the girls. "Please?"

There was silence for a while. The buzz of kitchens filled their ears as Mary and Alice looked at each other. Alice was still trying to process the new information and accept it somehow. Learning that the worst enemy of your best friend was actually in love with her and wants your help to get her wasn't something she could process easily. It took her time 'till she started trusting people. She get along with most of them, her bubbly personality charming everybody, but there were few friends she trusted. It was something she liked about Frank. He didn't rush things, he gave her plenty of time to get to know him. And she definitely didn't trust Potter. Mary, on the other hand, was usually the one who welcomed changes with opened arms, no matter how drastic or sudden they were. And looking at Mary, Alice already knew that her friend has decided and there was no use arguing about it. They will be helping Potter. In her mind it sounded like a deal with the devil himself. And the subject of the deal was her very best friend.

"Alright," she said at length. Mary smiled at her.

James, staring at the floor while the girls were deciding on his destiny, now looked up. "Alright?" he asked, his voice hopeful but not quite daring to believe it. "As in you will help me?"

"Yes Potter, we will help." Alice was beginning to sound annoyed. "But one wrong step and I'll castrate you myself."

James gulped. Sirius clapped his arms merrily. "Okay, now that we have that settled, let's work on a plan."

"A plan?" echoed Mary, Alice and James together.

"Of course. I mean Apparently James' plan of playing at the sweet gentleman didn't work very well. So we need a new, preferably better and not too complicated one. So he will be able to remember it."

"You are enjoying this far too much Sirius Black. Was it not for the fact that you are actually helping me, I might have been tempted to find a new best friend." muttered James, but he turned to girls with hopeful expression nonetheless.

Just then the bell rang, announcing the end of first period.

Mary got up and took her bag. "We have to go. As for the plan, I think it would be better if you left Lily alone for a while. That means - don't stalk her, don't prank her and don't talk to her. Unless you want to sit on your precious broomstick ever again."

"But then how -?"

"Want our help? Trust us. I'll tell you more later. Just don't do anything rush or stupid." With that Mary turned on her heel and left kitchens, accompanied by slightly bewildered Alice.

"How am I supposed to make her love me if I am not supposed to talk to her?" James asked halfheartedly.

"I don't know mate. But it didn't sound like you have much of choice." Sirius winked at him and earned himself a punch in arm. "Hey, that was totally uncalled for!"

...

One period of Muggle studies later two girls made their way towards the Charms classroom. If somebody asked them what was the lesson about they would hardly know. But they had a plan and that was important.

"Remember, we don't know about anything that happened today. So act surprised. But not too surprised, as it's not something unusual."

"Alice, for thousandth time, I know. Really, back then I thought you will be reluctant to help and now you can't stop talking about it."

Alice calmed down a bit as they entered almost empty classroom. Lily wasn't there yet, nor was James. "It's just... it's kind of exciting. Imagine them together. They are total opposites."

"Yes, but I think it would be good for both, they would complete each other. Just like you and Frank." Mary said thoughtfully. "Oh, here she comes."

"Okay. Let's get it started. Step one just began."

Mary laughed at her friend's enthusiasm and muttered: "I just hope _he_ doesn't mess it up." Then she turned to their coming, visibly annoyed, friend. "Hello Lily!"

* * *

_Hoping for reviews..._


	5. Friends interfering

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

_**AN:** Hello again after loong time. I know... if you started to read this story at the time I started writing it, you probably don't even remember it any more and so if you still want to read it I suggest to reread it from beginning. (I might start writing small recapitulations at the beginning of each chapter if you want, so let me know if you do...) _

_I said I won't give up on this story but at times I thought I would. See, in two years that passed by since I started this, a lot of things changed and this story didn't seem to go the way I thought it should, based on personal experience. I wanted my characters be realistic, but they didn't seem so. They seem immature at the very least, if not downright unrealistic. But then I thought I will make it a challenge to myself to take them from carefree teenagers to mature adults as the life will lead them through some important experiences. We will see if I succeed. _

_This chapter has lied in my computer half finished for over a year I think, and I finally got around to finish it. I enjoyed writing the end very much and am looking forward to writing next one (although I don't know when I will get to it). _

_Yours always _

_Kate xx_

* * *

-Chapter five-

**Friends interfering**

„Hi," said Lily tonelessly. She dropped her bag and sat down at the desk next to Alice.

"Sooo, what did Potter do this time?" asked Alice as innocently as she could manage, which wasn't much, as the boy in question entered the classroom at the same time and by the look on his face, he was ready to defend himself. Mary shot him a warning look, trying to stop him and for a few seconds they led silent battle of wills.

Fortunately, Lily didn't notice anything as she launched into the full recapitulation of the morning fight and finally James seemed to resign. He took seat far enough not to irritate Lily but close enough to hear the girls. He fixed his gaze on the front desk but Mary could tell he was listening intently, occasionally closing his eyes with tortured expression when Lily complained about him.

"He is such an insufferable, big-headed, arrogant, malicious git!"

"Well, yes he is. And extremely stupid too, but Lily, don't you think you overacted a bit? I agree, he is arrogant and all, but really, don't you think it's possible he was just joking. Because to me it does sound like some stupid joke Marauder would make. Besides, I doubt McGonagall would even believe him if he reported you," Mary said praying Lily wouldn't blow at her too.

"Since when do you stand up for Potter?" Lily asked turning her annoyance on her friend.

"She is not standing up for Potter," joined in Alice, lowering her voice after few more classmates took their seats nearby. She could see James out of the corner of her eye, straining to hear what she was saying. "She is merely pointing out that it's unlikely he would report you. Hagrid teased you about sneaking to kitchens too. You must admit that Lily Evans breaking rules is _something big. _And you said it yourself, he was trying to be polite."

"He was just polite so he could humiliate me more later on. He is playing some stupid mind-trick on me. Or haven't you noticed how he was acting last semester?" Lily huffed. But then she turn away from her friends and they could see corner of her mouth twitching.

"Hey, you like it!" said Mary astonished.

"Well, it does sound like something big doesn't it? Me, breaking rules." Lily said with rebellious glint in her eyes, all anger forgotten for a minute.

"Who are you and what have you done with my best friend." Alice stared at her in awe. Lily giggled. It was a feeling completely new and foreign to her. She was always orderly girl who did as she was told. She sticked to her believes and stood up for what she thought was right but she always obeyed the rules.

When Flitwick entered, they all turned to face him. Lily caught James staring at her with enigmatic face. She shrugged, maybe he really wasn't going to humiliate her this time, but that didn't mean she would forgive him so easily. Just then an idea hit her. She would prove them all wrong. Especially Potter. She was not that boring know-it-all who wouldn't recognize a joke if it was right under her nose, as he so often told her. No she would show him, she had as much sense of humor as he had. And she would show him how it feels to be on the receiving side of his jokes. _She_ would prank _him_.

And so she set to work on plan. The prank needed to be something special. It needed to be clever and funny. Nothing seriously dangerous, yet something that would teach Potter his lesson. She didn't want to get in detention for it, but she wanted him to known that it was her doing. Therefore she had to be stealthy. To secure all of this was almost mission impossible but it was something marauders were known for and so she was determined that if they could do it, she could too.

At first she wanted to do it alone, but soon she learned she would need some help, and so, one evening, when they were all sitting in their dorm, she introduced Mary and Alice to her plans. They weren't as enthusiastic about it as she was, but, although a bit reluctantly, they agreed to help her. Together the three of them came up with various ideas but none of them satisfied Lily.

"Why don't we just throw a bucket of water at him?" whined Mary after hour of discussing their ideas.

"No!" Said Lily dismissively. "It's stupid and childish and it's been done million times. It must be something that would surprise him. Something even Potter himself wouldn't come up with."

"No offense Lily, but that's impossible. The Marauders pranked every living person in this castle and probably even ghosts. They are masters of their craft. They are the only four people who were not pranked yet, and that's only because, obviously, they wont prank themselves."

"Well, that's it then!" called Lily victoriously.

"What?" asked Mary and Alice together.

"We need to get them to prank themselves!" Mary and Alice looked confused. "Come on, it's perfect idea. Just what we need."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Alice skeptically.

"Without using imperius on them, I might add." said Mary with sarcasm. Lily thought for a minute.

"Well, we need to convince him to make something or at least gain information on some of the major pranks Marauders are planning and then sabotage it. I can't convince him to do anything, because for some reason he has been avoiding me lately, witch I'm thankful for, but even if he didn't avoid me, we are not exactly best friends." Lily said, than added: "No matter what you say," when she saw Mary was about to start with Potter-is-not-as-bad-as-you-think nonsense again. "As it is, it has to be you two who will get close enough to him to get the information we need."

"But-" started Alice.

"But what? I thought you were on the don't-hate-Potter ship with Mary. And now we need to get close to him." Lily looked at her watch. "I need to go, I'm late for patrols. I will try to get something out of Remus and you two can figure out what to do about Potter." With that Lily exited their dorm.

Alice looked helplessly at Mary.

"This sucks," she said.

"Yeah, pretty much. What will we do?" asked Mary

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about befriending Marauders."

"I'm not sure if that's good or bad thing. If we weren't already helping Potter get Lily I probably wouldn't feel so guilty about helping Lily prank Potter."

"Yeah, and if it works, he will get mad at us. And I don't want that, he is annoying sometimes but I think you were right about him and so far he has been doing everything we told him. It was going nicely, but then Lily comes up with this stupid prank... Why? It's so frustrating," complained Alice. She was combing her cat's hair rather violently. The cat hissed and jumped from her lap. "Sorry, Perseus," she muttered.

"Well, I can see where Lily is coming from," said Mary, "but that doesn't make it less complicated. I don't see how we can get out of this without the whole thing blowing up. Either James will think that we betrayed him, or Lily will get mad at us because we take Potter's side in this."

"I think we will just have to come up with a plan of our own. They are both relying on us, so it shouldn't be to difficult to coordinate them. We just have to think of the way to satisfy them both. Maybe we could sabotage Lily's sabotage of Marauders prank? We need to make Lily see what is James on about, then everything will be okay..."

"I don't like this. They both have bloody temperament and something could easily go wrong. If they realize we've been playing with them, we are screwed."

"Well then what do you suggest?" asked Alice.

"I would let them work it out for themselves, but I'm afraid that's impossible, so for now I 'm for persuading Lily the prank is bad idea. Even if she gets angry at us, she will come to her senses sooner or later, she is a reasonable girl. And it wouldn't do this school any good if Potter started hating her as much as Lily despise him. You-know-who would seem like tame pigmypuff compared to the two of them fighting a full on battle, don't you think? Besides, we can still switch to your plan if this doesn't work."

"Okay, that seems like the best option. We need to warn Potter of doing anything stupid before we get her off this prank plan. He won't be happy."

"Well, he has no choice."

Getting information on James form Remus while staying inconspicuous proved to be extremely hard because Remus was one of the best, most loyal friends you could wish for and he also was one of the brightest people Lily knew. That meant she had to be very careful with her questions.

"Hello Remus," she sad when she approached him in common room. "Ready for patrols?"

"Yeah, just a minute though, I want to finish this, I have only few pages left" Remus indicated a book he was reading. Lily bent down a little to see what the title was.

"Tricky transfiguration, hmm, sounds interesting. Do you mind if I borrow it after you are finished with it?" she asked, thinking this might be just what she was looking for.

"Er, ok," said Remus uncertainly, "although I'm not quite sure if you will find it as, um, contributing as I do."

"Why? You know I could always do with some extra reading on transfiguration. It was never my best subject," Lily said innocently.

"Well... it's not exactly educational material, you see. I doubt McGonnagal would approve of half of this spells."

"Don't worry, Remus. I can take a little joke here and there. Maybe it will help me discover the entertaining part of transfiguration and Merlin knows I could use that. I don't say it's not useful subject but I can't help but find it boring," sight Lily, hoping this explanation didn't sound to Remus as stupid as it sounded to her.

Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise, but then shrugged: "If you say so..." and he continued reading, occasionally chuckling.

Lily sat down in a chair next to him and stared of into the fire while she waited. Few minutes later Remus shut the book and got up.

"Well, I'm finished," he said as Lily got up too. He handed her the book: "Just take care of it, it's not mine." Lily raised an eyebrow, so Remus explained: "It's James' but he has read it so many times that he should know it by heart already."

"Thanks," Lily took the book, "I'll just drop in my dormitory then and we can start the patrols."

Few minutes later, they were already standing outside the portrait hole.

"So," Lily started cheerfully, "have you found something useful in that book for the next big Marauder's prank?"

"Since when are you so interested in our pranks?" laughed Remus. Lily mentally kicked herself. So much for being stealthy.

"Eh... since they tend to involve me quite often? I thought I would mentally prepare myself this time." Well it _was_ part of the truth.

"You know that I can't tell you. We swore on Marauders honor that we won't tell anybody our secrets. But I doubt you will be the victim any time soon."

"Why?" asked Lily truly surprised by this. She thought that surely James would want a revenge for that morning a week or so ago, when she yelled at him. Especially since she was kinda-sorta-not-wanting-to-admit-it but really out of line.

"I think you have finally managed to get the message that you don't like him and want him to leave you alone across."

"Good, It was about time." Said Lily sourly though still surprised that he didn't want to retaliate. Or maybe this was just another plot to get her hurt.. no, Remus wouldn't lie to her. But maybe James lied to him too.. Eh, she was being paranoid.

"I still think you misjudged him, Lily. He is a prat, and he played some cruel pranks on you, yes. But he regretted them later. He was just too proud to admit it. He has a heart at the right place, though. And he is not evil like those Slytherins." Remus looked at her darkened expression. "Believe me, he would never judge person on where they come from or any such rubbish. I would know."

This time it was Lily's turn to look at Remus thoughtfully. It was clear she won't get any more information on pranks from him and she really didn't want to discuss Potter. Suddenly everyone seemed to defend his honor and she wasn't buying it. But this was a good opportunity to propose the other issue that was nagging at her mind.

"I know," she said slowly.

"Good," replied Remus, "because he really-"

"No, Remus, that's not what I mean. I know that you would know." Lily looked him in the eyes.

"What?" he asked, his voice a bit higher that usual, sounding slightly panicky. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know that you are a werewolf, Remus." She said softly. He was starting to backtrack now, so she hastily added: "And I couldn't care less about it."

"You- You couldn't care less? You are not scared of me? Or repulsed?" He asked still in high pitched voice.

"No, why would I be? You are one of the nicest guys I know," she told him sincerely.

"But-?"

"Honestly Remus, I have known for a while now. If I was scared or repulsed, I wouldn't be so willing to go on those patrols with you, with no-one but a few ghosts around." Lily explained in a tone you would use with five-year old.

"Well, I guess..." He was now calming down a bit. "But how do you know? Does anybody else now?"

"Well, Severus had this theory -"

"It's not a theory," interrupted Remus darkly, "he has seen me, and wasn't it for James, I would..." he tailed off looking away.

"Oh," Lily said, remembering. "So that whomping-willow accident... it was you?"

"Yes, Sirius thought it would be funny to tell Snape how to get into the tunnel under that tree. Naturally Snape followed me there and if James hadn't showed up..." Remus went quiet for a moment, then added: "Anyway, he did and he dragged Snape out of there, but Snap had seen me. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Dumbledore said he took care of it." Remus finished bitterly.

"Well, he had his theory even before that, but I didn't care much... only when we became prefects I started noticing you more," Lily smiled at him in encouraging way. Just then she realized something: "I don't suppose Marauders call you Moony for sleepwalking... they know too, don't they?"

"They figured it out in first year." Remus said with small smile om his lips. "You have no idea what it meant to me. That even when they knew, they still wanted to be my friends. Werewolves are often looked upon as some dangerous animals. Most wizards would be resentful and scared if they knew their kids go to school with me. That's why I value their friendship so much. They even thought it was cool," Remus shook his head amused at memory. "They help me pull through really rough times."

"With pranks," snorted Lily in a good-natured way.

"What's better way to brighten your mood then fun with friends? But it wasn't only for my entertainment. We all had to deal with difficult times. Yes, even James." Remus said when Lily gave him doubtful look. "As I said there is a reason why he did things he did. It's the unfortunate way he deals with hard times."

Lily just nodded trying to process what she had just learned. So Remus really was a werewolf and apparently the bond between Marauders went deeper than in casual group of teenage friends. She wandered what Remus meant by saying they all had to deal with difficult times. She knew that Sirius came from family of Dark wizards who didn't appreciate his anti-Voldemort sympathies. But James? What problems could he possibly have? He was rich, spoiled, naturally talented, arrogant and careless to the point of cruelty. Well, she will show him soon.

That night, when Lily returned from patrol she headed straight for her dormitory. She picked up a book that Remus gave her and started flipping through it. At first she scanned the pages, recognizing many spells that she had been subjected to or witnessed at hands of Marauders. Some of them, she learned required quite skillful spell-work, but she already knew that Marauders weren't stupid even if they acted so. Many spells had a notes with Marauders improvements on prank. Halfway through the book one spell in particular caught Lily's attention. It was underlined and next to it was a single world written in hand: _Lily. _She was sure that it was just another pranking spell, when she noticed that a spell fell into Intuitive magic category. She started reading the description soon realizing that this spell really wasn't a prank. It was supposedly an ancient spell, that when performed right transfigured any inanimate object into some symbol of heart's true desire, helping the performer to discover it. According to author of the book it didn't really work since when he tried it he accidentally transfigured his favorite armchair into a pig and wasn't able to reverse the spell, but he recommends to try it just for the fun of it. Lily scoffed and frowned at her name at the top of the page.

Just then Mary entered the dormitory with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Guess whom I just caught snogging on my way from library?"

Lily shrugged: "Pray tell."

"Alice and Frank! Looks like the boy finally got his act together and kissed her!"

"It was about time too." Lily said good-naturally. "I thought that Frank would graduate sooner that work up the nerve to do something with Alice."

"Well, he did and that leaves you as only single occupant of this dormitory. We need to do something about that," Mary winked at her clapping her hands together.

"Don't start again. You know that as..."

"As long as Potter walks the corridors of this school you don't stand a chance at getting proper boyfriend. I know, I have heard that annoyingly long sentence at least thousand times. But he hasn't bothered you lately, has he?"

"No. Now he has taken to staring at me all the time. It's kinda creepy. But I will put an end to it soon." Lily lifted the book and showed the cover to Mary.

"Oh no, you still haven't given up on that prank idea?"

"Nope, and you and Alice better help me." Lily said in tone that leaves no room for objections.

"Okay then," resigned Mary. "I see you are already preparing yourself," she noded at the book. "Have you any ideas yet?"

"Not really. As I said I will need your help in getting information from Potter and his friends. We need to crash their own prank and it needs to be something big. I was thinking about their annual Valentine's day prank. That could be fun." Lily grinned and once more turned to the book, trying to decide what to make of her name next to that ancient spell. Then she closed the book, writing it off as workings of Potter's perverted mind. "Well I'm ready to go to sleep. Good night."

"Night Lily," said Mary. She waited for another hour and half until Alice returned from her evening rendezvous with Frank.

"We need to talk she whispered to smiling Alice as she dragged her to her bed, drew the curtains and casted a silencing spell around them.

"Yes! We do!" squealed Alice. "You won't believe what happened today!"

"You snogged Frank," Mary laughed at Alice's surprised blush. "I saw you two on my way from library. You know there is one perfectly good broom cupboard just one corridor from there and you don't need to scare innocent first years!"

"Um.. I will remember that." Alice said sheepishly.

"You better do. But that's not why I dragged you in here."

"Uh,uh.. why then?"

"We have a problem. Lily is still hung up on the idea of crashing one of Marauder's pranks. In fact, she wants us to find out what their Valentine's Day prank is gonna be." Mary finished with an exasperated look.

"Well... you must admit it – it could be fun, get Marauders to prank themselves."

Mary smiled thoughtfully: "Yeah, but I don't think they would take very kindly to it. We've been able to hold James off Lily's back for now, but he is becoming restless and this thing could ruin everything."

"I know, but it seems we have no other choice but to help Lily. At least this way we can supervise it and minimize the damage. If we let Lily do it on her own, she will find a way, and the results could be far more disastrous."

"Soo... how do you suggest we get them to tell us what are they planning?"

Alice grinned mischievously: "We don't. _We_ tell _them_ what they are going to do."

"And I suppose they will listen, no questions asked," remarked Mary sarcastically. "And when it all blows up_, _they will have absolutely no idea whose doing it was."

"Well, we have to make it look like they came up with the idea themselves. I already have something in mind," said Alice and she started explaining her idea of the prank. When she finished Mary was in awe.

"Wow Alice, I never thought you had it in you. That sounds brilliant!"

"Only I'm not sure how to pull it off since neither off us takes potions," confessed Alice unhappily.

"Leave that to Marauders. They will figure it out..."

….

A week later Mary arranged a meeting with James in library to update him on win-Lily-over plan.

"How am I going to get her to give me a chance if we don't speak together?"

"That's exactly how James. Because whenever you open your mouth around her, something awfully arrogant comes out."

"But it's been almost a month..."

"Me and Alice are working on it. She has to forgive you for the past before she will be able to accept the fact that you changed," reasoned Mary. She omitted to mention that the forgiving process will most likely be sped up by revenge. Instead she continued: "Right know the only thing you can really do is practice your good-but-not-too-good-boy behavior. Now please help me find this book for Muggle studies. It should be somewhere here," she led him to the part of the library dedicated to mauggle-wizard relations. As she predicted the first thing that caught Potter's eye was a bright orange book entitled _12 ways to crash a party. _When he pulled it out she asked him: "Is that it?"

He quickly closed the book and hid it into his bag.

"Um, no, it's just something for a light reading," he gave her his most innocent smile.

"Right," she said doubtfully. "Never mind, I think I found it. I'm going to finish that blasted essay. So by for now. And don't do anything stupid." She gave him a meaningful look, and with a wave of hand departed from library.

"I think he bought it," said Mary later that day to Alice.

"He did. I overheard him talking to Black just few minutes ago. _Genius these muggles. With a few magic tweaks it would be a perfect prank for Valentine's._" Alice mimicked. "Now we only need to pay a close attention for exactly what tweaks they plan to do and if need be, push them into the right direction."

But it turned out there was no need for pushing because Marauders planned the prank exactly as Alice and Mary wanted. Marauders never talked about it directly, bur since Mary and Alice already knew what was the main subject they were able to figure out the plans. They fed Lily small innocent lies about how they found out about the prank and the night before the Valentine's day they made plans on how to sabotage the whole thing. Luckily Lily agreed with their ideas.

"I don't think we need to completely change it. As much as I despise Marauders, it is pretty harmless and even funny," mused Lily, missing a grin that Alice and Mary exchanged. "However we need to make sure that Marauders, and namely Potter will be subjected to it as much as everyone else."

"We already agreed that we will make sure they drink it too. We will wait until they leave the kitchens and then switch..."

"Yes, that too" Lily interrupted Mary's rant. "But I have something else in mind."

Alice and Mary exchanged worried looks. This was bad news.

"And what is it, pray tell," asked Alice sweetly.

"You will see," smirked Lily.

…...

Next morning Hogwarts castle awoke with anticipation. It was Valentine's day. The day most of the boys dreaded and most of the girls anticipated with great expectations, that were rarely fulfilled. It was also a day of great annual marauder's prank. Some looked forward to it, some fared it, because they often served as a laughing stock for rest of the school. Lily Evans was usually one of those who dreaded Valentine's day. This year however she woke up with a smile plastered on her face. She went down to kitchens with her friends, stealthily following Marauders and then switching cups at their usual places, making sure there were few dry drops of that genius potion at the bottom of each cup on the table. They waited another fifteen minutes before they made their way to Great Hall. The potion was said to start making impact at random time varying from half an hour after consumed to six hours, so they had time. Lily was in such a good mood, that she even said "Morning, Potter" when she passed him in a Great Hall. He spilled a pumpkin juice on his robe from the shock and she just laughed. When she set down she discreetly cleaned her cup with a spell and piled up some food on her plate. Then she dropped a fork. She bend down to retrieve it making two small well aimed flicks of her wand on her way up. It was perfectly timed because precisely at that moment professor McGonagall stood up from teacher's table having already finished breakfast and made her way down the hall. However she came to a halt in the middle of Griffindor table.

"Mr. Potter!" James seemed to jump in his seat, when whole Great Hall turned to look at him, laughing. Just then did he notice that he was wearing bright pink tutu. "What is the meaning of this? Change back to your robes this instant!"

"What the hell?" James looked down at his outfit.

"Language Mr. Potter!"

"But.." spluttered Potter.

"Nice antlers, mate," laughed Sirius.

James hand went to his hair, his nervous habit, but instead of hair his hand collided wit something very solid and... heart-shaped? He grabbed a spoon and looked into it. He had in fact grown a delicately twisted antlers and his usually oval glasses were also heart-shaped and pink-rimmed.

"Mr. Potter! Unless you want a week's worth detention I suggest you change your appearance back to normal this instant!"

"Yes professor," James agreed hurriedly taking his wand. He tried to reverse the spells but nothing he tried worked. Lily had put a timing charm on top of the transfiguration so it was impossible to change it back until the time ran out. That of course, no one knew but Lily.

"Mr. Potter, you are wearing my patience thin." Her lips were getting thinner and thinner – a sign that she was seconds from losing her patience altogether. "I told you numerous times, that..." James was sure that now she would yell at him for everything he had ever done, but then suddenly something in her expression changed and she faltered. "...that... you have very beautiful eyes and I just love your untidy hair. It looks so rebelliously sexy," she sighed with dreamy eyes. "And those antlers...mmmm."

James' eyes popped out of it's sockets. He gaped at professor McGonagall as if she had grown two heads. Sirius was laughing so hard that he had trouble staying on his seat. And he wasn't the only one. Whole school was laughing at him and McGonaggall. Next to him Remus whispered to Peter:"I think the potion is working." Unfortunately the strict professor had snapped out of her dreamy state and heard him.

"Mr. Lupin, what was...?" she was however cut of by Sirius, who all of the sudden stopped laughing.

"My dearest Minerva, I allays taught you..." But McGonagall, sensing what was coming tried to over-yell him.

"Potter, Black,.."

"...look extremely..." Sirius raised his voice to level McGonagall.

"...Lupin, Pettigrew..."

"...attractive, wen..."

"...my office..."

"... I didn't do anything.." whined Peter.

"... you are yelling at me!"

"...right now!" McGonagall finished and turned on her heel, marching from Great Hall. The boys stood up, following her confused – the potion wasn't meant to affect them. James was still in his pink tutu and antlers and Sirius was yelling after McGonagall.

"I know you will once realize how much you love me! I will forever keep you in my heart!"

Few seats down the row, Lily Evans smiled at her friends.

"Well, that was fun," she commented contently.

Her content smile was however wiped from her face when she open a letter that Aurel just brought her.


End file.
